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23 February 2010
From the pyramids to skyscrapers
End Polio Now message beamed on to monuments worldwide
The Obelisk in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with
an End Polio Now message.
Photo: Uri Gordon/Rotary International
Iconic landmarks around the world were illuminated with the
End Polio Now message the week of 23 February in honor of Rotary's 105th
anniversary. Landmarks lit up included the Pyramid of Khafre in Egypt; the
Taipei Arena in Taiwan; the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia,
Spain; the Old Port Captain’s Office on the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town; the
Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and the Royal Palace at Caserta in Italy.
As the world closes in on polio, Rotary is in the midst of a US$ 200 million
fundraising campaign to finally eradicate the disease.
More
16 February 2010
Three Ps in Afghanistan
Polio, peace and partnership
 Kabul:
For the past three days, 19000 health workers travelled from house to house in
14 provinces to reach 2.8 million children under 5 years of age in southern,
south-eastern, western and eastern Afghanistan. The immunization drive is part
of an ongoing effort to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, which is together with
Pakistan, India and Nigeria the only country still affected by the disease.
“The eradication of polio in Afghanistan is tantalizing close, and yet we are
still so far away;” said Peter Graaff, WHO Representative in Afghanistan at the
campaign’s launch in Jalalabad. “I hope that 2010 will be a major step towards a
polio-free Afghanistan.”
3.5 million doses of bivalent oral polio vaccine were required for this
campaign, which is supported by UNICEF, WHO and other long-term partners, such
as Rotary International and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta. “The
progress that has been achieved so far was possible only thanks to the strong
partnership that we have built over the past years,” emphasized Ms Catherine
Mbengue, UNICEF Representative.
In 2009, six rounds of national immunization days (NIDS) reaching almost 7.5
million children took place. Four rounds of subnational campaigns (SNID) were
conducted in areas where polio cases have been recorded, in order to stop the
virus and prevent the disease from spreading to other parts of the country and
across the border to Pakistan. Six rounds of NID and four rounds of SNID are
planned this year.
Yet, despite ongoing efforts, circulation of the polio virus continues. 38 cases
have been reported in 2009, seven more than the year before. Lack of community
awareness and inadequate health infrastructure are among the major concerns.
Population movement from polio-free areas to polio-endemic locations and
vice-versa are another concern, especially along the border between Afghanistan
and Pakistan. With the support of Rotary International, vaccination checkpoints
have been set up at both sides of the border to make sure that children crossing
into the respective countries are being vaccinated.
The first and foremost concern is insecurity. As access of vaccination teams to
children living in conflict-affected areas is limited, an average of 100 000
children cannot be reached through either vaccination campaigns or routine
immunization efforts.
“We should not forget that health is neutral. The right to vaccination is not
being denied by anybody. Please do not only allow the immunization campaign to
take place, but facilitate access for the vaccinators to your children;” pleaded
Mr Graaff.
Ms Mbengue concluded the launching event with words of hope: “We can eradicate
polio, with partnership and peace. Our efforts mean progress for the children of
Afghanistan, Pakistan and worldwide – today and tomorrow.”
More on
polio in Afghanistan
More on insecurity and difficulty reaching children during the 14-16
February 2010 vaccination campaigns
-- Photo and story from Cornelia Walther, UNICEF
Afghanistan
15 February 2010
AFGHANISTAN: Offensive delays polio immunization drive
in Helmand
 KABUL,
15 February 2010 (IRIN) - Under-five children in Nad Ali District, Helmand
Province, southern Afghanistan, are missing out on polio immunization due to an
ongoing military operation against the Taliban by Afghan and NATO forces.
A three-day sub-national polio immunization campaign, targeting 2.8 million
children began on 14 February in the south, southeast, west and east of the
country, the Ministry of Public Health said.
Of the 500,000 children targeted for polio immunization in Helmand, about
170,000 were not accessed on 14 February - mostly in Nad Ali, Musa Qala and
Sangeen districts - Tahir Pervaiz Mir, polio eradication officer for the World
Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan, told IRIN.
“Polio immunization would not be conducted in Nad Ali and Marjah due to the
ongoing conflict there,” Enayatullah Ghafari, provincial director of the health
department, told IRIN.
Poliovirus is believed to be virulent in Nad Ali: Two polio cases have been
confirmed there this year, according to the UN. “We are concerned about the
transmission of poliovirus from Nad Ali District,” said Mir.
Health workers say they were able to reach children in Taliban-controlled areas
in Helmand and elsewhere in the country during several polio immunization
campaigns in 2009. Taliban leaders reportedly issued a “support letter” for each
polio immunization round through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Provincial health officials said efforts were under way to regain access to
children in Musa Qala and Sangeen districts for the current immunization drive.
“[The Taliban] have given us a green light and we hope to be able to immunize
children in the two districts soon,” said Ghafari.
About 15,000 Afghan and foreign forces are fighting Taliban insurgents in Marjah
and Nad Ali in what has been described as NATO’s biggest military operation in
Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001.
WHO says about 84 percent of Afghanistan is polio-free but the disease remains
virulent in 13 insecure districts in the south and southeast, where health
workers have little or no access, and where most of the 38 polio cases in 2009
were reported. Four polio cases, three in Helmand and one in the neighbouring
province of Farah, have been reported so far in 2010, according to WHO.
Courtesy IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service
of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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