Taking a cue from India's success in eradicating polio, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has presented a comprehensive six-year plan to eradicate all types of polio from the face of the earth by the year 2018.
At a summit held in Abu Dhabi yesterday, global leaders and philanthropists backed the plan by pledging close to three-quarters of it's projected budget of $5.5 billion. They also called for additional donations of about $1.5 billion, needed to ensure eradication of the disease.
The Polio Eradication & Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 was developed by the GPEI in extensive consultation with a broad range of stakeholders.
The plan incorporates lessons learnt from India's success in tackling the disease and cutting-edge knowledge about the risk of circulating vaccine-derived polio viruses.
It also considers how to handle the disease in volatile regions, by incorporating lessons learnt while implementing the tailor-made 'Emergency Action Plans' in violence-hit Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria."After a millennium battling polio, this plan puts us within the sight of the endgame. We have new knowledge about the polio viruses, new technologies and new tactics to reach the most vulnerable communities. The extensive experience, infrastructure and knowledge gained can help us reach all children and all communities with essential health services," said World Health Organisation Director General Margaret Chan.
Earlier this month, more than 400 scientists and health experts from around the world endorsed the GPEI plan and reaffirmed the conviction that a polio-free world can be secured by 2018.
In remarks made at the Summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, underscored the numerous benefits of ending polio and the need to provide health and development interventions to the hardest-to-reach children.
Gates announced that his foundation would commit one-third of the total cost of the GPEI's budget for the six-year plan, a total amount of $ .8 billion. He also called on additional donors to come forward with long-term commitments to fully fund the GPEI plan.
It is estimated that the GPEI's efforts to eradicate polio could deliver total net benefits of $ 40 to 50 billion by 2035 from reduced treatment costs and gains in human productivity.
With the number of children paralysed by this disease at the lowest ever level, just 223 cases in 2012 and only 19 so far this year, the urgency is linked to the narrow window of opportunity to seize on that progress and stop all polio virus transmission before polio-free countries become re-infected.
