Polio Plus Update from our District Chair
Nov 18, 2020
Kelly Barr
Polio Plus Update from our District Chair
I keep saying that we need to remind ourselves that this is more than just a Polio project. This project has impacted the entire Global Health system in a positive way providing so much more than just the simple drops of live Polio vaccine. “Currently an Ebola outbreak in DR Congo and 6 polio funded staff are at the epicenter as well as 15 or so staff working in the regional and provincial level working on controlling the spread.” “The role of these polio surveillance network and staff is invaluable in countries that have weak health systems and very little resources.” from Anand Balachandran, WHO on his interview with Coffee with the Polio Experts.
 
The process to transition from the Polio focus to strengthening health systems in countries with very weak systems has already begun. 14 of 16 countries that have been identified have already provided plans including health priorities for immunizations and surveillance carrying forward the goals of the assets within the Polio resources and network.
 
The goals delineated are to insure sustained Polio Eradication, strengthen immunization systems, and to strengthen the capacity of countries to respond to health emergencies. These goals bring home the gravity of what the Polio Plus project has done for the health of the world’s population.
 
The current Polio status: The challenge remains in the areas of unrest in Africa and the Middle East. To date the numbers are still down throughout all of the surveillance indicators including wild polio virus (WPV) cases, the vaccine derived cases, as well as the sewer sites. The current case count is 18 with 14 attributed to Afghanistan and 4 to Pakistan. There are however some vaccine derived cases that raise red flags about the lack of vaccine coverage in areas around Lake Chad in particular. When vaccine coverage is sufficient the vaccine derived versions of Polio cannot spread long enough to cause neurological symptoms. It should stop transmitting very quickly in order to prevent the mutation back to the original virulent strain if coverage in the area is sufficient. The vaccine derived cases have always been tracked but now that the numbers of WPV have dropped to only 2 countries you can see the tracking of these vaccine transmissions on the Polio Eradication website. Last year there were 93 cases in 2 countries and this year we see 53 in 5 countries. We cannot let the coverage of the vaccine drop as we near the finish line.
 
Please keep this project in your clubs priority list. It affects the health of the entire world and health status directly correlates with the economy of these areas. We cannot afford to slow down at the finish line.
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