Polio Eradication Initiative - Global Overview

This PowerPoint presentation was part of a June 2005 joint United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)/World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting dedicated to examining communication in the context of the final global push to eradicate polio. This presentation addresses the trends and status of the global polio eradication programme, providing an overall epidemiological framework for the communication strategies presented on a country-by-country basis later in the meeting.



Facts presented include: the total number of global poliovirus cases increased from 784 cases in 2003 to 1,256 cases in 2004, with 555 cases reported as of June 2005. In June 2005, there were 6 polio endemic countries and 14 countries with imported virus (for a total of 20 countries), of which 6 had experienced retransmission. [Note: During the meeting, a case of poliovirus was reported in Angola, bringing the total number of countries with reported cases of poliovirus to 21].



Major developments since the last annual meeting held in June 2004 in New Delhi (see Global Polio Eradication: Current Status and Priorities, June 2004) were reported, including:

• Ministerial level oversight of eradication activities.
• Spread of the virus into Guinea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Indonesia
• Africa Regional Office of the WHO (AFRO) expanded synchronised National Immunisation Days (NIDs) to 25 countries.
• Increased quality and focus of supplementary immunisation activities (SIAs) in Asia, e.g. India extended transit, "underserved" strategy for NIDs.
• Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) Type 1 vaccine used in India, Egypt, Yemen.

In Asia, it was reported that there has been an intensification of activities, with 5 synchronised campaigns from October 2004 to May 2005. The risks of a low season spread of the African epidemic were also reported.



An overview of the current situation, in which many countries are experiencing "importation outbreaks" was provided. Specific details were provided for Sudan, Yemen and Indonesia. In summary, of the 14 countries with importations, 4 have successfully interrupted transmission, and 6 of those with re-established transmission had not had a reported case as of June 2005. It was also noted that Sudan is a special situation due to the 2004 detection of ongoing transmission of an indigenous Type 3 virus. Great improvements were reported in rapid confirmation/sequence capacity, however surveillance gaps still exist. A detailed discussion of the quality of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance, and the consequences of surveillance gaps was also provided.



The negative impact of scaling back polio campaigns from 2002-2003 due to funding gaps was reported. The existence of ongoing funding gaps was identified as a serious issue, and a listing of financing priorities was provided. Key risks to completing the eradication of wild poliovirus were identified including: the delay in virus interruption in Asia, the expansion and delay of interruption in Africa, insufficient financing and undetected virus (surveillance gaps). Following this is a discussion of the priorities to be taken in Asia and Africa to address these risks. The highest priority is identified as interrupting circulation in the 6 endemic countries.



In summary, it was concluded that Asia is now set to stop polio by the end of 2005; Africa is now "back on track", with the greatest risk being a delay in Nigeria; a recognition that importations will continue to occur until ALL countries are polio free; and finally, that insufficient funding is again a major risk.

Click here to download the full PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file.