|
News
Archives
27 November 2009
Angola: Real-time coverage data
Independent monitoring report for 13-15
November immunization activities
Angola has released, for the first time,
independent monitoring results of an immunization activity within 15 days of
completion. This real-time reporting is part of new approaches by the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative to improve the quality and impact of eradication
strategies. At its recent meeting, the global advisory body of the polio
eradication effort endorsed this approach. The Advisory Committee on
Poliomyelitis Eradication recommended that "the independent monitoring
process ... should be implemented as rapidly as possible in all re-infected
countries, with monitoring results made available internationally whtin 15 days
of each immunization round." Complete, independent and rapid data on
Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs) are critical to guiding any
necessary mid-course corrections if any gaps are found.
Full report from Angola (in PDF)
The first time that monitoring data was made
available in this way was for the West African coordinated rounds in October
2009.
Global Polio
Eradication Initiative Web Site Survey
Take our survey and help us redesign
this site to better serve your needs: the login you will need is <website>
and the password is <polio>. Enter survey.
20
November 2009
Advisory Committee on Poliomyelitis Eradication
18-19 November 2009
Geneva
The Advisory Committee on Polio Eradication (ACPE), the global technical
advisory body of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), held a Special
Consultation with spearheading partners of the GPEI, governments of endemic and
polio-affected countries, and donors in Geneva on 18-19th November 2009.
Recommendations of the ACPE following the Special Consultation range from
technical issues (such as the rapid use of new bivalent oral polio vaccine) to
advocacy (the engagement of Heads of State to ensure accountability of local
authorities for reaching every child during immunization activities) and
programme planning (the development of a consultative process to develop a
Programme of Work 2010-2012 for the GPEI). The full recommendations will be
published in the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record in January 2010.
The ACPE evaluated the impact of the 2009 Programme of Work, discussed the
recommendations of the Independent Evaluation of Major Barriers to
Interrupting Poliovirus Transmission, reviewed the outcomes of the clinical
trials on the new bivalent oral polio vaccine (which demonstrated that it could
prove a key tool in the armoury of the GPEI as early as December 2009), and
looked closely at the epidemiological trends in the remaining four endemic
countries, as well as the measures put in place to limit international spread of
wild poliovirus. These discussions mark the start of a wide-ranging consultative
process for the development of a new programme of work, which is expected to be
continued at the upcoming Executive Board in January 2010, for anticipated
finalization at the World Health Assembly in May 2010.
16 November 2009
Saudi Arabia demands polio vaccinations for
Hajj
Young pilgrims to the Hajj from polio-infected
countries must be immunized with oral polio vaccine, the Ministry of Health of
Saudi Arabia has demanded.
The Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia has once
again issued a requirement that all visitors aged under 15 years travelling to
Saudi Arabia from countries reinfected with poliomyelitis should be vaccinated
against polio with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Proof of vaccination is
required six weeks prior to application for an entry visa, and irrespective of
their vaccination history, all visitors aged under 15 years arriving in Saudi
Arabia will also receive one dose of OPV at border points.
The following countries are considered to be reinfected with polio (data as of
October 2009): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia,
Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda.
All travellers arriving from Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan,
regardless of age and vaccination status, must be vaccinated against polio six
weeks prior to departure for Saudi Arabia and receive an additional dose at
border points on arrival.
More in
English /
French
12 November 2009
Polio programme persists despite worsening
security
Security threat results in temporary
evacuations from Afghanistan and Pakistan but 'critical' polio immunization
activities to continue
ALTHOUGH international polio eradication staff in
Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan have been relocated as the security threat
continues to rise, more than 70 national staff in Afghanistan and 120 national
staff in affected parts of Pakistan continue to prepare for National
Immunization Days to be held later this month.
Following an armed attack on a private guest house
frequently used by United Nations staff in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 28 October in
which five UN staff and two Afghan security guards were killed, and a suicide
bomb attack on the World Food Programme offices in Islamabad on 5 October, in
which a further five UN staff were killed, the UN has scaled back operations in
the region as it re-evaluates how best to protect its staff.
More
10 November 2009
Leave the icepack at home
OPV can be delivered without recommended cold
chain temperatures
A study conducted recently in Mali suggests that
oral polio vaccine (OPV) can be delivered safely and effectively without
icepacks in vaccine-carrier bags during vaccination campaigns. During National
Immunization Days in Mali, 39 vaccination teams immunized a total of 14,913
children, with some teams using icepacks and others not, and found that all
vials remained fully usable as indicated by the vaccine vial monitors.
Full story.
09 November 2009
Life comes 'Full Circle'
Photo exhibit documents polio
survivor's emotional journey home
 The
inspiring and thought-provoking photo exhibit 'Full Circle' goes on show in
Kolkata, India, on 4 December 2009. The photo exhibit is by photographer, polio
survivor and polio eradication advocate Gautam Lewis.
Gautam was abandoned after contracting polio at
the age of three, and raised by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity,
followed by two more years of operations at the Rehabilitation Centre for
Children. He
was subsequently adopted and taken to live in the
UK, from where he will travel in December to his birthplace Kolkata to help in
the effort to eradicate polio. The 'Full Circle' exhibit tells the
extraordinary story of Gautam's emotional journey back to his birthplace Kolkata
to take part in India’s epic polio immunisation campaign, advocating with
communities on the important need for immunization. .
'Full Circle' will be exhibited at Gaganendra
Shilpa Pradarshasal in Kolkata, from 4-7 December. Representatives from Mother
Teresa Missionaries of Charity, Rehabilitation Centre For Children, Child In
Need Institute and Sanchar will be present, as well as several prominent
citizens of Kolkata.
02 November 2009
Independent Evaluation completed
To help overcome barriers to stopping polio
2 November, Geneva – An Independent Evaluation of
Major Barriers to Interrupting Poliovirus Transmission has been completed.
The Independent Evaluation was carried out in
response to a request in January 2009 from the Executive Board of WHO, prompted
by delays in attaining global polio eradication.
After 24 collective months of work, the evaluation
teams – composed of 28 experts in public health, immunization, vaccinology,
programme communications and security – identified managerial, security and
technical barriers and suggested a host of strategies, some of which are new,
while others help to accelerate the implementation of current strategies.
The barriers are expressed as those that are
common to polio-affected areas (cross-cutting) and those that are specific to
each area ( country-specific). The Independent Evaluation recommends strategies
to address each of these barriers in order to reach eradication as quickly as
possible.
More.
| 
