There have been some disturbing developments in the End Polio campaign, initiated by Rotary in 1985.Please note, this is not an official update but one that I have prepared to update members of my own Rotary Club.
Background:
Since 1985, Rotary in conjunction with the World Health Organisation and more recently The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have sought to eliminate Polio from the planet. This has involved the immunization of some 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Background of campaign here.
This campaign has been incredibly successful, to the point where it could be claimed that cases have been reduced by 99.9%.
Over the last two years, Polio (Type 1) has been endemic in only two countries namely Pakistan and Afghanistan where in 2022 there were 22 cases in total and 2023 there were 12 cases in total.
This year, 2024 has taken a turn, on two fronts.
Afghanistan and Pakistan
So far, this year, there have been a total of 33 Type 1 cases to the beginning of September, 17 in Afghanistan and 16 in Pakistan.
Whilst I am not qualified to provide any reasons for this increase, it has long been recognised that the political instability in the region, especially in the border region between the two countries has made the immunization process a difficult one. However, the immunization process has been stepped up in the last year and hopefully the case level we are seeing at present is a delayed effect and temporary.
I will provide another update in a month or two.
Gaza
In the last week there has been a confirmed report of a child contracting Type 2 polio in Gaza. This is being reported as the first such case in 25 years.
For the full story please click here.