Progress toward Global Polio Eradication

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 175; no. Supplement-1; pp. S4 - S9
• Main Authors: Hull, Harry F., Birmingham, Maureen E., Melgaard, Bjorn, Lee, Jong Wook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The University of Chicago Press 01.02.1997; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Current Status of Poliomyelitis; Disease transmission; Global Health; Humans; Immunity; Immunization; Immunization Programs; Incidence; Oral poliovirus vaccine; Polio; Poliomyelitis; Poliomyelitis - epidemiology; Poliomyelitis - prevention & control; Poliovirus; Poliovirus Vaccine, Oral; Surveillance; Vaccination; Viruses
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/175.Supplement_1.S4

Significant progress is being made towards the global eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000. The strategies recommended by the World Health Organization for polio eradication are as follows: maintaining high routine immunization coverage; conducting nationwide mass immunization campaigns; building effective, laboratory-based surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis; and conducting localized immunization campaigris directed at the final reservoirs of virus transmission. Sixty-three countries have conducted nationwide anti-polio immunization campaigns. Three hundred million children were immunized in these campaigns worldwide in 1995. The reported incidence of poliomyelitis has fallen by ∼80% since the global target was set in 1988, and the geographic range of polio is being restricted. The major challenges for achieving eradication are establishing effective surveillance systems in all countries and mobilizing the resources needed to fully implement the recommended strategies in the 67 countries in which polio remains endemic.