http://www.ucsfhealth.org/childrens/health_library/reuters/2003/07/20030729elin012.html

Reuters Health	Print Format

U.N. says it can eradicate polio by 2005

July 29, 2003
 

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. health chiefs said on Tuesday they could eradicate polio on target by 2005 if governments in four key countries gave full backing to extensive immunization campaigns.

The officials, from the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO), told reporters the disease might never be conquered unless a window of opportunity offered by a new flow of funds is used now.

"Polio eradication is a top priority," said new WHO Director-General Lee Jong-Wook. "We have eliminated it from almost every country in the world...clearly eradicating it by 2005 is a doable job."

The disease, which once paralyzed and killed thousands of children annually in dozens of countries, has claimed 235 victims so far this year, Lee said.

The wild-type form of the virus is now concentrated in India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt, which account for 99 percent of all new cases, according to the WHO. It is also known to exist in Afghanistan, Niger and Somalia.

Dr. David Heymann, a top WHO expert on communicable diseases who has been named as head of the anti-polio drive, said the agency would concentrate resources on all seven countries where polio was still found.

"The aim is to build a wall of immunity, to stop both local transmission and export to other countries," said Heymann, who over the past few months headed the apparently successful WHO effort to stop the SARS virus spreading round the world.

"If we don't do it now, the chance may be lost. The funds we now have are not infinite, and if we do not defeat polio within the next two years there is a risk that other health priorities will take over."

He said the success of the campaign would depend on the effort in India, where there was a major outbreak last year, and in Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt.

"Strong routine immunization campaigns are vital...Unless we stop transmission in the remaining polio-endemic countries, it will spread to other countries where it has been eliminated and reverse the gains we have made," he said.

One case was reported earlier this year in Lebanon, the result of a virus brought from India. Over the past 12 months, viruses have spread from Nigeria into neighboring countries that had been free of the disease.

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