Global Polio Eradication Initiative Launches New Strategic Plan
Global Polio Eradication Initiative Launches New Strategic Plan
On the heels of a conference last week in Geneva, partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have announced the launch of a new three-year plan to eradicate wild poliovirus.
The meeting brought together the ministers of health of Nigeria, Afghanistan, Angola, and Senegal as well as senior health ministry officials, existing and potential funders, vaccine manufacturers, and partner organizations, to discuss and build on polio eradication gains already achieved in 2010 and to galvanize new action in Africa, where ten of the fifteen previously polio-free countries that experienced fresh outbreaks of the disease in 2009 have successfully stemmed those outbreaks. The new plan includes introducing district- and area-specific strategies to target the remaining reservoirs of poliovirus, exploiting the bivalent oral polio vaccine to increase the impact of immunizations, and tackling health system weaknesses.
According to the World Health Organization, which co-hosted the meeting with UNICEF, the success of the plan hinges on the implementation of activities at the field level as well as the provision of adequate financing. Some have expressed deep concern, however, that the $2.6 billion plan is only half funded. To help remedy the situation, partners in the initiative are examining every possible funding option while managing existing cash flow to limit any curtailment of immunization activities under the plan.
"Polio eradication remains an urgent priority for our foundation," said Tachi Yamada, president of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "We call on donor governments to also prioritize polio as we seek to eliminate these last, most difficult cases."
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