World Bank Approves $28 Million for Polio

The World Bank has launched a financing programme to help eradicate polio worldwide by 2005 with a US $28-million loan for the purchase of oral polio vaccines for Nigeria, the Bank reported on Tuesday.

Together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, and the UN Foundation, the Bank plans to move swiftly over the coming months to fund the immunisation of children in other polio endemic countries, it said in a press statement.

However, the global initiative to eradicate polio is still short of about US $275 million, a gap which threatened immunisation campaigns and surveillance activities in the period 2003 to 2005, the Bank said. It urged other international bodies to meet the funding gap and help deliver a polio-free world by 2005.

Jonathan Majiyagbe, President-elect of Rotary International, said. "In my homeland of Nigeria, 201 children were infected by this disease last year, alone. No child today should ever have to suffer from this crippling disease, as an effective vaccine has made polio totally preventable. We must all continue our efforts to ensure that every child is vaccinated, and protect our investment in a polio-free world by 2005."

The polio virus invades the nervous system through the mouth, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. Amongst those paralyzed, 5-10 percent die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. In 2002, polio was endemic in seven countries, As at April 2003, there were 1,919 reported cases worldwide.

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