24 October 2018 World Polio Day
Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis.
There is no cure, but there is a safe and effective vaccine. Polio can be prevented through immunization. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.
World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is a public-private partnership that includes Rotary, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. GPEI works alongside governments and stands by every health worker to free the world from polio. GPEI has decreased polio to 99.9% since 1988 and over 2.5 billion children have been vaccinated.
Today, polio continues to circulate in three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Just 22 polio cases were confirmed worldwide in 2017, which is a reduction of more than 99.9 percent since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day.
Where are we in the fight to end polio? What bold steps are we taking to get there? Find out during a live event on World Polio Day, Wednesday October 24, 2018, 3:30 PM PDT | 6:30 PM EDT.
