Last Tuesday, a brief history of the polio eradication campaign was presented to club members at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan by Dr. Peter Greger, Past President of the Rotary Club of Saipan.
He said the first polio eradication campaign began in the Philippines in 1979, leading to the World Health Organization's call in 1988 to eradicate polio by the year 2000.
Mr Gregor said polio had come close to eradication by 1997, but the challenge became increasingly difficult after a setback in 2002 due to opposition from conservative religious leaders, particularly in Nigeria.
He highlighted the challenges facing polio eradication, including resistance in Nigeria and the spread of polio from Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He noted the significant achievements of India achieving polio eradication in 2011 and eradicating type 2 and type 3 polio worldwide in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
“In 2015, type 2 polio, one of the three wild types of polio, was completely eradicated worldwide. And in 2019, type 3 was completely eradicated worldwide. , only Type 1 in Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the red in terms of wild polio. He said a comparison between 1988 and 2023 shows that PolioPlus is making progress along with other organizations. Ta.
Additionally, Gregor explained the concept of herd immunity and its importance in preventing vaccine-derived polio, which can occur when less than 95% of the population has been vaccinated.
He discussed the risk of polio from vaccines. This risk could arise if vaccinated children flush the weakened virus down the drain, causing it to mutate and spread. He highlighted the need for community surveillance and public health measures, citing examples of vaccine-derived polio cases in Gaza and Nigeria.
An independent monitoring committee has published a report on the polio situation, highlighting the challenges to achieving the World Health Assembly's goal of ending polio transmission by the year 2000.
“There is an independent oversight committee, and it's just a wealth of information that was published in August and September. So in 2012 they said we had 10 months to reach the World Health Assembly goal of stopping polio transmission by the end of 2000, and that was in 2012, mainly because We couldn't achieve this because of vaccine-derived polio.”
Gregor also added about the impact of COVID-19 on vaccinations, including the rise in anti-vaccination sentiment and the resurgence of measles and polio.
He gave examples of measles outbreaks in the United States and polio outbreaks in New York City and Israel, both of which were caused by refusal to vaccinate.
In Israel, a public health initiative addressed the problem by cutting off financial support for families who refused vaccination, leading to increased vaccination rates.
Gregor highlighted Rotary's significant contribution to eradicating polio, which accounts for more than 90% of NGO donations to this cause. He discussed funding sources for polio eradication, including the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, World Health Organization, CDC, UNICEF, Gates Foundation, and Rotary.
He also explained the concept of PolioPlus, which includes supporting public health, hygiene and small business initiatives for polio survivors.
He also emphasized the need to increase funding to reach the goal of eradicating polio by 2030, targeting $7 billion over the next few years.
Gregor concluded his talk by highlighting the impact of Rotarian contributions to global health efforts and encouraging Rotarians to support polio eradication efforts through donations.
