The World Polio Day is celebrated in the world on October 24th, 2012, under the theme “End Polio Now”. Thus, all the health experts agree to the necessity of making governments give eradicating polio the first priority. And it seeks to adopt the policies and provide the necessary finances to apply the set strategies in order to eradicate polio.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) seeks to eradicate polio through the polio- eradicating global initiative, which is the biggest health partnership based between the governmental and private sectors, and which managed to reduce polio cases by 99%. Therefore, polio only exists now in the most impoverished communities in the world and the most marginalized, as it is still rife among the most vulnerable children. As such, the goal which the initiative seeks is to vaccinate each child, without exception, with anti-polio vaccine, and guarantee world free from this disease, which is in the best interest of the next generations.
Strategies:
There are four main strategies to stop the spread of wild polio virus in the affected areas or the areas highly vulnerable to the risks of infection re-emergence. Thus, these strategies are:
Vaccinating infants in their first years with four doses of the anti-polio oral vaccine, and guaranteeing highly-immunized coverage with this vaccine.
Seeking, through the integral immunization activities, to administer complementary doses of the anti-polio oral vaccine for all the children less than five years.
Detecting the wild polio virus through reporting on all the acute flaccid cases which inflict children, less than fifteen years, and examining them through laboratories.
Undertaking comprehensive immunization processes, with specific goals when the scope of the polio spread is restricted to specific area.
Related Links:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/PolioDay/