Update: Polio this week – As of 03 Oct 2012
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
[Editor’s Extract]
Afghanistan
One new case was reported in the past week (WPV1 from the previously-uninfected province of Ghor), bringing the total number of cases for 2012 to 19. It was the most recent case, with onset of paralysis on 31 August.
Pakistan
Three new cases were reported in the past week (2 WPV1 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1 from Gilgit Baltistan) bringing the total number of cases for 2012 to 40. The most recent case was a WPV1 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with onset of paralysis on 13 September.
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The Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) for 5 October 2012, vol. 87, 40 (pp. 381–388) includes:
– Progress towards eradicating poliomyelitis: Afghanistan and Pakistan, January 2011–August 2012
http://www.who.int/entity/wer/2012/wer8740.pdf
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The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved a US$24 million second additional financing for the Third Partnership for Polio Eradication Project (TPPEP) “to support the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to immunize 34.8 million children against the crippling effects of polio with the goal of eradicating the disease from the country.” Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan, commented, “Although Pakistan has seen great progress in the reduction of polio over the last 20 years, it remains one of the few countries where polio still impacts lives and recent cases are worrying. Pakistan still has a large role to play to aggressively stop transmission of polio virus to help achieve the global public good of polio eradication in the world”. The announcement noted that the recent floods also forced large scale population movements, resulting in large population groups living together in temporary housing with inadequate water and sanitation facilities. This, in turn, has led to exposure of people who had not been previously exposed to the polio virus. In addition, the prevailing security situation affecting the population in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has seriously affected immunization coverage, with an estimated 90% of children under 5 years no longer receiving adequate immunization.
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 