Closing in on a world without polio
7 May 2014 03:41 PM
A world without polio is
now ‘tantalisingly’ close International Development Secretary
Justine Greening told guests during her keynote speech at a Rotary
International reception.
They were gathered to celebrate
that in February 2014 India was officially declared polio-free, having
successfully immunised tens of millions of children every year since 1995. This
incredible achievement means that the whole of South-East Asia, and 80% of the
world, is now completely polio free.
Nigeria, Afghanistan and
Pakistan are the last remaining polio-endemic countries while others continue
to be at risk of transmission across borders. In particular, conflict countries
like Syria present ongoing challenges, but despite this 25 million children
across the region have now been vaccinated.
With representatives from India,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Indonesia, along with key polio
campaigners and global health bodies, Ms Greening was able to speak directly to
those who, alongside the UK, can help make a world without polio a
reality.
Through a partnership with the
government of Bihar, involving training front line workers to reach
“Every Child, Every Time,” the UK has played a part in eliminating
polio from India. At the Abu Dhabi Vaccine summit last year the UK pledged up
to £300 million over six years to help vaccinate some 360 million
children.
Justine Greening
said:
Given that just 5 years ago
India accounted for more than half of the world’s children contracting
polio every year, the scale of their achievement cannot be underestimated.
India should take immense pride in its new-found polio-free status and the UK
is also proud to have a played a part.
While this achievement deserves
to be celebrated there is still more to be done to consign polio to the history
books along with smallpox. Investments in polio eradication are not only the
right thing to do, they also represent very good value for money. Polio
eradication by 2018 will help prevent more than 8 million cases of life-long
paralysis, with net economic benefits of up to $50 billion.
We have the tools and we have
the vaccines, but continuing political will and strong global partnerships are
vital to achieving our goal of a world without polio.
John Kenny Chair of Trustees of
Rotary Foundation said:
We celebrate today what
represents a decisive battle victory, but the war is yet to be won. We must
remain united and unflagging in our support – as we did in India –
to address the remaining challenges.
Also present at the event were
two survivors of polio Arun and Bina Patel. Struck down by the debilitating
disease at just 1 and 2 respectively both Arun and Bina have refused to let it
win. Arun is the founder of children’s charity, Polio Children, that has
raised over £1.2m to fund projects in India and Tanzania, while Bina has
enjoyed a successful career spanning over 25 years at British
Airways.
Case study – Bina
Patel
Bina was born in Nairobi, Kenya,
and lived in a small town called Athi River, about 20 miles south of Nairobi.
She was just 2 and a half years old when she came down with a high fever and
her body took on a reddish tint. Her mum took her to see the family doctor in
Nairobi where an examination revealed that she had contracted polio. It
paralysed her from the waist down and she had no mobility at all in her legs.
She was admitted into hospital and stayed there for a month until she could sit
up without any support.
When she reached school age,
none of the schools would admit her unless without a carer so her parents had
to recruit a carer who would be with round the clock. Bina’s parents
valued good education and ultimately decided it was best for the family to move
to England.
By that stage Bina was able to
walk with the aid of callipers and crutches and had quite a few operations on
her legs during her first few years in England. Bina went to a local day school
for disabled children and was transported to the school in a local authority
school bus. However, she found the education at this school very repetitive and
with the help of her orthopaedic consultant Bina moved to the Florence Treloar
School in Hampshire.
Not only did she receive a great
education she was encouraged to take advantage of many extracurricular
activities such as swimming, canoeing, basketball, and archery. Florence Trelor
School gave Bina the confidence to be independent and through this she learnt
to drive, passing the test on her first attempt.
In between finishing school and
starting college Bina had to have a major spinal fusion surgery. This sadly
meant she could no longer walk with the aid of callipers and was confined to a
wheelchair. This meant life had to adapt, but through great personal strength
and the support of her family, Bina succeeded and completed her education with
a degree in business studies.
For the past 26 years she has
worked full time for British Airways in various positions and thoroughly enjoys
the job. She remains positive and confident in pursuing an active and
fulfilling personal and professional life.
Bina’s Dad, Uncle and
cousin, Vijay are all members of Rotary clubs and she is extremely proud of
this fact and of all the organisation has done to try and eradicate polio once
and for all.
Case study – Arun
Patel
Leading by example, Arun has
directly impacted the lives of more than 1000 children afflicted with polio. A
polio victim since age 1, he has never forgotten the odds he had to overcome to
attain success in his personal and professional life just to be accepted by
society. In 2002, he formed a charity, Polio Children, and invested a large sum
of his own money to build a 140-bed hostel for girls in rural
India.
Over the years, this facility
has provided a safe haven to more than 300 girls many of whom have gone on to
obtain university degrees, secure well-paying jobs, and get married to
able-bodied men. Recognising that children with polio stood the best chance of
attaining independence in adult life only if their basic needs were met during
their formative years, he sold off his thriving accountancy practice in 2006 to
devote his energies full-time to the cause - despite deteriorating health due
to post-polio syndrome.
Through his relentless efforts,
Polio Children has raised almost $2 million (£ 1.2 m) to fund projects
for poor children with polio in India (SKSN) and in Tanzania (Kwa Mkono -
KM).
Arun approaches each day with
humility in his heart and wisdom in his mind. He knows firsthand what it feels
to be ostracized and the odds a physically handicapped child has to overcome in
order to join the mainstream of society as an equal partner. By giving hope and
treating every one of them with dignity, it is his mission to ensure that no
child with polio is ever left behind.
Facts and
Figures
UK contribution
-
The UK has pledged £300
million over the next six years to help eradicate polio. The Global Polio
Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) aim is to eradicate the disease by 2018.
£100m of the £300m was disbursed in November 2013.
-
Britain also provided an
additional £10 million to the GPEI in August 2013 to immunise more than
six million people in Somalia and Kenya to help contain the Horn of Africa
outbreak.
-
The UK has since provided a
further £1.8 million to UNICEF to help their vaccination efforts in
Somalia, and £2m for Syria.
-
The four GPEI founding partners
are World Health Organisation, UNICEF, Rotary International and the Center for
Disease Control (CDC). Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an unofficial
spearheading partner.
Notes to
editors
- In the last 20 years, polio
cases have fallen by more than 99% with the launch of the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, from 350,000 cases to 222 cases in 2012.
Case numbers jumped to 416 in 2013 largely because of outbreaks in the Horn of
Africa, Syria and Pakistan.
- In January 2013 India
(previously endemic) recorded two years with no polio cases. The scale of the
polio eradication effort is huge. In 2012, more than 2 billion doses of oral
polio vaccine (OPV) were administered to more than 429 million children in 45
countries.
- Afghanistan Nigeria and Pakistan
comprise the last three polio-endemic countries. Many other countries are at
risk of transmission from these three countries, especially those that are
poor, remote and affected by conflict. The outbreak in the Horn of Africa
flared up in May 2013, affecting Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan
centred largely on the refugee camps. Millions of children aged up to 15 were
immunised in two rapid campaigns.
- As well as the UK, the US,
Germany, Japan, Norway, Canada and Australia are bilateral core contributors to
GPEI and active like-minded donor allies. Historically the UK contribution to
the end 2012 was over £600m. The estimated budget needed to complete
eradication and certification by 2018 is some $5.5 bn.
- Failure to eradicate polio would
result in estimated 10 million paralysed children in the next 40 years and
negate the world’s global investment so far.
- Rotary International is one of
the four original founding partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative
(GPEI), along with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the US Centers for
Disease Control (CDC). Since 1988 they have contributed just over
$1.2bn.
- DFID and India: In November
2012, the Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening,
announced that the UK and India will move to a new development relationship. We
will end financial grant aid to India by 2015, after honouring all our
commitments to on-going projects . After 2015 our partnership will focus on
sharing skills and expertise in priority areas such a growth, trade and
investment, skills and health, or on making investments in private sector
projects which create opportunities for the poor while generating a return. We
will also strengthen our partnership with India on global development issues
like food security and climate change. For additional information, please
visit:https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/justine-greening-update-on-aid-to-
india