World Health Assembly declares polio eradication a public health emergency
Health ministers at the World Health Assembly in Geneva adopted a resolution on 25 May that declared “the completion of polio eradication to be a programmatic emergency for global public health.”
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, of which Rotary is a spearheading partner, has launched an emergency action plan because of the threat of continued transmission of polio due to funding and immunization gaps. Cases have dropped dramatically, but the plan is needed to avoid a resurgence of the disease.
Despite the dramatic drop in polio cases in the last year, the threat of continued transmission due to funding and immunization gaps has driven the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to launch the Global Polio Emergency Action Plan 2012-13.
The plan aims to boost vaccination coverage in the three remaining polio-endemic countries -- Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan -- to levels needed to stop polio transmission. Health ministers meeting at the World Health Assembly in Geneva adopted a resolution on 25 May that declared “the completion of polio eradication to be a programmatic emergency for global public health.”
“Polio eradication is at a tipping point between success and failure,” says Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO. “We are in emergency mode to tip it towards success -- working faster and better, focusing on the areas where children are most vulnerable.”