Taking a cue from India’s success in eradicating polio, the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has presented a comprehensive
six-year plan to eradicate all types of polio from the face of the earth
by the year 2018.
At a summit held in Abu Dhabi yesterday, global leaders and
philanthropists backed the plan by pledging close to three-quarters of
it’s projected budget of $5.5 billion. They also called for additional
donations of about $1.5 billion, needed to ensure eradication of the
disease.
The Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 was
developed by the GPEI in extensive consultation with a broad range of
stakeholders.
The plan incorporates lessons learnt from India’s success in tackling
the disease and cutting-edge knowledge about the risk of circulating
vaccine-derived polio viruses. It also considers how to handle the
disease in volatile regions, by incorporating lessons learnt while
implementing the tailor-made ‘Emergency Action Plans’ in violence-hit
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria.
“After a millennium battling polio, this plan puts us within the
sight of the endgame. We have new knowledge about the polio viruses, new
technologies and new tactics to reach the most vulnerable communities.
The extensive experience, infrastructure and knowledge gained can help
us reach all children and all communities with essential health
services,” said World Health Organisation Director General Margaret
Chan.
Earlier this month, more than 400 scientists and health experts from
around the world endorsed the GPEI plan and reaffirmed the conviction
that a polio-free world can be secured by 2018.
In remarks made at the Summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, underscored the numerous benefits of ending
polio and the need to provide health and development interventions to
the hardest-to-reach children.
Gates announced that his foundation would commit one-third of the
total cost of the GPEI’s budget for the six-year plan, a total amount of
$1.8 billion. He also called on additional donors to come forward with
long-term commitments to fully fund the GPEI plan.
It is estimated that the GPEI’s efforts to eradicate polio could
deliver total net benefits of $40 to 50 billion by 2035 from reduced
treatment costs and gains in human productivity.
With the number of children paralysed by this disease at the lowest
ever level, just 223 cases in 2012 and only 19 so far this year, the
urgency is linked to the narrow window of opportunity to seize on that
progress and stop all polio virus transmission before polio-free
countries become re-infected.
Source : First Post World Via PTI , 6th May 2013
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