Massive Effort Eradicates Polio from 14 Countries

November 13, 2005

According to the WHO:

Public health experts have confirmed that a polio epidemic in ten countries in west and central Africa - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, CÃ´te d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Togo - has been successfully stopped. The epidemic has paralysed nearly 200 children for life since mid-2003, but no new cases have been reported in these countries since early June. At the same time, polio eradication efforts are intensifying in Nigeria, where extensive disease transmission continues, as part of a mass polio campaign across 28 African countries beginning today.

Owen comments:A significant $200 million funding gap for 2006 threatens the final eradication of polio. $ 75 million is needed by December to ensure activities in the first quarter of next year can proceed. It is hard to imagine a higher priority, or more cost-effective way to use rising aid resources, than achieving the final eradication of this disease.

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