POLIO PLUS RECENT NEWS

Posted by Drew Dulmage

on Mar 11, 2015

This is the latest information regarding the fight to eradicate or end polio in the world. It is quite a good article that is informative and give insight as to the task before us.

FEBRUARY 2015 Download [pdf]

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Dear Bruce,

This February, we continued to see the importance of international commitment and cooperation in progress toward a polio-free world and improving health everywhere. The International Health Regulations' Emergency Committee met to review the Temporary Recommendations made last year, concluding that polio continues to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. A group of Indian surveillance experts from the National Polio Surveillance Programme demonstrated the polio legacy in action, travelling to Sierra Leone to strengthen surveillance for the Ebola outbreak response. The largest coordinated vaccine roll-out in history continues on schedule with 120 countries due to introduce the inactivated polio vaccine by the end of 2015.

POLIO REMAINS A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN

The Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations met for the fourth time in February to review the Temporary Recommendations enacted in May 2014 to help stop the international spread of polio. The committee agreed that the recommendations made last year should remain in place, and that a new category of recommendations would be included for States no longer infected with wild poliovirus but which continue to be vulnerable to international spread. The committee also concluded that Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Pakistan should enhance regional cooperation and cross border coordination to ensure prompt detection of wild poliovirus and vaccination of refugees, travellers and mobile population groups.

POLIO LEGACY IN ACTION IN SIERRA LEONE

Dr Deepak Kumar and his team of surveillance experts investigate a death alert in Sierra Leone. © NPSP/Dr Deepak Kumar

Strong surveillance and data analysis were essential tools in the historic achievement of eradicating polio from India. Now the lessons learned in these efforts, such as case investigation, contact tracing, data collection and analysis are helping in the fight against Ebola. Twenty six polio surveillance experts from the National Polio Surveillance Programme in India are currently deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia to contribute their passion and expertise to strengthening the outbreak response effort. This demonstrates the incredible legacy that the polio infrastructure can leave in other countries, to strengthen the capacity of local health workers, and the ability to combat other diseases.

GLOBAL INACTIVATED POLIO VACCINE ROLL-OUT CONTINUES

POLIO LEGACY IN ACTION IN SIERRA LEONE

Dr Deepak Kumar and his team of surveillance experts investigate a death alert in Sierra Leone. © NPSP/Dr Deepak Kumar

Strong surveillance and data analysis were essential tools in the historic achievement of eradicating polio from India. Now the lessons learned in these efforts, such as case investigation, contact tracing, data collection and analysis are helping in the fight against Ebola. Twenty six polio surveillance experts from the National Polio Surveillance Programme in India are currently deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia to contribute their passion and expertise to strengthening the outbreak response effort. This demonstrates the incredible legacy that the polio infrastructure can leave in other countries, to strengthen the capacity of local health workers, and the ability to combat other diseases.