We shouldn’t be talking about polio anymore.
More than 50 years ago, this crippling, potentially deadly disease afflicted scores of people around the world, including countless victims in the United States. Polio preyed upon young and old, cutting short lives and withering limbs and futures. In 1955, a vaccine developed by Jonas Salk and his team of scientists at the University of Pittsburgh was approved for widespread use, and polio rates in the U.S. soon plummeted.
The Americas were certified polio-free by the World Health Organization in 1994, and in many parts of the world this fierce, highly infectious viral disease was seemingly banished to the yellowing pages of history.
But in numerous developing countries, where not everyone had access to the vaccine, polio continued to exact its vicious toll. In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)—a hugely ambitious partnership including UNICEF, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and national governments—set out to eliminate polio from the face of the Earth once and for all. The results have been astounding: over the last 20 years, the global incidence of polio has dropped by more than 99 percent.
Still, polio stubbornly persists. While endemic in only four countries—Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Nigeria—the disease has hopped borders, appearing recently in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and a dozen other African nations. Earlier this month, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced an emergency appeal that will fund polio immunization campaigns carried out by national governments with support from UNICEF and other members of the GPEI.
Recent news coverage of the battle against polio has been modest at best, but it received a welcome boost from the Academy Award-nominated film The Final Inch, which documented the massive effort to eradicate polio in India. The powerful film follows the persevering efforts of Munzareen Fatima, a community mobilizer who works with the UNICEF-led Social Mobilization Network, to make sure children are protected against the devastating disease.
Though new outbreaks are now threatening some of the progress made against polio, many news outlets have ignored or underplayed the story. Those who have recently covered it include Agence France Presse, AllAfrica.com, PBS, Reuters, The New York Times, and Voice of America.
BACKGROUND NOTE: Polio is spread through water or food contaminated with human waste. The incurable disease affects the nervous system and can cause crippling paralysis or even death. Timely immunization can prevent infection.
Convincing parents or guardians to allow children to be immunized is sometimes difficult. In addition to providing vaccines—as well as the cold chain equipment required for transporting the serums—UNICEF also helps develop communication strategies that can be key to creating acceptance of the vaccines.
The success in combating polio shows that achieving the day when zero children die from preventable causes is not only possible—it is within reach.
