Polio Makes a Comeback in Myanmar - Mass Vaccination to Target Polio Return (Report)

UNICEF/MyanmarA rare strain of the polio virus is re-emerging in Myanmar after three years, say health workers. One case was confirmed in Myanmar last December - followed by two more of unknown origin reported but not yet confirmed in January - prompting health officials to organize a mass vaccination campaign to target millions of under-five children.

A seven-month old infant was infected with vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) in December in central Myanmar's Mandalay division in Yamethin Township, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Myanmar.

"But one case is enough [to require] an emergency response," said Marinus Gotink, UNICEF's chief of health and nutrition in Myanmar.

The Department of Health has already immunized 10,000 children living in or around the area where the December polio case was diagnosed.

"But the campaign should be much bigger," Gotink said, adding that UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) were planning a mass vaccination national campaign, expected to target 3.34 million children in 109 of the country's 325 townships.

In January two more polio cases were detected but not yet lab-confirmed in Mandalay Division's Yamethin Township and Mon State's Thanbyuzayut Township.

A vaccine-derived poliovirus is a strain of poliovirus, initially contained in the live oral polio vaccine, that has changed over time; it behaves more like a wild or naturally occurring virus. This means that it can be more easily spread to others who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with an infected person. The only way to fully protect children from either the more common wild polio strain or VDPV is full vaccination, according to the WHO.

From 1997-2007, nine countries with low levels of polio immunization worldwide reported outbreaks of VDPV that resulted in fewer than 200 polio infections, according to the world health body. In the same period, 33,000 children were paralyzed by the wild poliovirus.

VDPV first appeared in central Myanmar in 2006 in Mandalay Division. The following year, four more cases were confirmed in Yangon Division, home of the economic capital, Yangon, as well as Mon and Kayin State bordering Thailand in the east and Bago Division East.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

Polio is a disease that is most often spread through contact with the stool (bowel movement) of an infected person. Polio germs can also be spread through food and water. The disease mainly affects children under 5 years old, but unvaccinated people of any age are at risk.

Up to 95% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms. About four to eight percent of infected persons have minor symptoms such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs which often resolves completely. Fewer than one percent of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually the legs). Of those paralyzed, 5-10% die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles.

- HUMNews Staff with Initial Report from IRIN

One of Africa's Largest Vaccination Campaigns Enters Second Phase (Report)

(HN, February 11, 2011) - A nationwide, integrated measles and polio vaccination campaign that aims to immunize more than 51 million children in Nigeria moves this month to the southern part of Africa's most populous nation.A young girl receiving life-saving polio drops in the northern Nigerian state of Kano. CREDIT: Christine McNab

An army of some 107,000 health workers have been deployed - many travelling on foot and going door-to-door. Lagos and surrounding states will be targeted throughout February. Mobile teams and fixed posts are being used in the current campaign.

The vaccination campaign has overlapped, in part, with a nationwide voter registration drive that ended Monday after two extensions. Some observers say that exercise - as well as preparations for elections in April - are diverting significant attention - and resources - away from public health priorities.

Nigeria is one of four polio endemic countries in the world - along with Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. However, last year saw a 95 percent drop in polio cases and Nigeria and UNICEF Country Representative Suomi Sakai says she hopes to see the debilitating disease totally wiped out this year. (So far there has been only one case in 2011).

Said Robin Nandy, UNICEF's global polio chief: "Nigeria has been a centre for polio virus transmission over the past few years, resulting in the spread of the virus to various countries in the region. If we are able to gain control of it in Nigeria, then we gain control of it in the region. That's why this current campaign is so important."

Nigeria also suffers from occasional measles outbreaks.

The ongoing measles and polio campaign is being run by the Government of Nigeria and with support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Foundation, Gates Foundation, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Lions International.

2010 in Review: Key Health Issues

(HN, December 26, 2010) - This was a year of public health challenges stemming from a series of natural disasters. But it was also a year when a long-term collaboration culminated an affordable vaccine to eliminate one of Africa's biggest health problems.

The year began with news of a devastating earthquake in Haiti. Also in 2010, severe floods devastated large areas of Pakistan where the World Health Organization (WHO) - and health partners - provided enough medicines to cover the basic health needs of 6.7 million people.

2010 saw steady – but fragile – progress towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Following the pandemic of 2009, the H1N1 virus had largely run its course and by August 2010 had entered a post-pandemic period. The year concluded with the announcement of a new, affordable and effective vaccine against meningitis, a disease that threatens the lives and health of more than 450 million in the African region.

This photo feature - produced by WHO - presents a selection of the major health issues in 2010.

Haiti: devastated by earthquake and cholera outbreak

In January, a severe earthquake struck Haiti, inflicting large-scale damage. WHO and its partners in the humanitarian health cluster responded to immediate health priorities, which included:

• treating major trauma injuries
• preventing infection of wounds
• providing clean water and sanitation facilities
• encouraging continuation of breastfeeding.

Later in the year, a cholera outbreak compounded the health challenges in the country. As part of a coordinated health response with partners, WHO/PAHO helped to establish cholera treatment centres, trained health workers and distributed medical supplies.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis at record high levels

In some areas of the world, one in four people with tuberculosis becomes ill with a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs regimens, according to WHO's Multidrug and extensively drug-resistant TB (M/XDR-TB): 2010 global report on surveillance and response.

However, there are encouraging signs that governments and partners can achieve a decline in this drug-resistant tuberculosis by implementing WHO recommendations.

Africa seizes chance against polio

In October, 15 African countries launched a synchronized mass polio immunization campaign to reach 72 million children. About 290 000 vaccinators went door-to-door to deliver two drops of oral polio vaccine to every child under five in areas considered at highest risk of polio transmission.

Despite ongoing efforts however, an outbreak of polio occurred in the Congo, due to imported poliovirus. Several other countries in the WHO European Region experienced the first importation of wild poliovirus since 2002.

Meningitis vaccine in Burkina Faso

As many as 450 million people are at risk from meningococcal A disease, the primary cause of epidemic meningitis across Africa.

A new vaccine was developed by the Meningitis Vaccine Project. This is a partnership between WHO and PATH (an international NGO), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The new vaccine, MenAfriVac, was introduced in Burkina Faso at the end of 2010. It promises to provide long-term protection for children as young as one year, at a price affordable for Africa.

CREDIT: Assad Zaidi

Covering the health needs of more than six million flood-affected people in Pakistan

WHO and health partners provided enough medicines to cover the basic health needs of 6.7 million people during the Pakistan flood crisis in 2010.

WHO’s response focused on communicable disease control, provision of primary health care, and resumption of damaged and affected health facilities.

Combating the harmful use of alcohol

Every year, alcohol kills 2.5 million people, including 320 000 young people between 15 and 29 years of age.

To combat this, WHO launched a new global strategy, which set priority areas for global action, provided guidance to countries, and gave WHO the mandate to strengthen action at all levels on reducing harmful use of alcohol.

(Report) World Polio Day: A global look at polio - October 24, 2010

A child in the northern Nigerian high-risk state of Kano receives a polio drop CREDIT: UNICEF

(HN, October 24, 2010) -- In 1985 there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries across the globe. Today there are 4 polio endemic countries in the world: Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.

 A brief look at polio around the world today

* Of the 58 new cases reported in Africa in the past six months, 48 are from the outbreak in Angola (20) and its spread into the Democratic Republic of Congo (28). 

* Countries across West Africa are in the final stages of planning for a large scale immunization campaign that will start on 28 October. Further campaigns are planned for late November.

* One year has passed since Cameroon has reported a case of wild poliovirus. 

* In the past 12 months, 51% of all cases of polio globally have been reported from the WHO's European Region - most of these from the outbreak in Tajikistan.

* Pakistan has more cases than the other three endemic countries combined (88 compared with 65). Of the 113 districts affected by polio worldwide in the past six months, 20% are in Pakistan.

* Nigeria has had the greatest decrease in cases of polio in 2010 – polio cases have dropped by more than 99 percent – from 312 cases in 2009 to 3 in 2010. Much of the progress is attributed to the engagement of traditional leaders in the high-risk northern states, and heavy social mobilization by key players UNICEF, Rotary International, WHO and the Gates Foundation.

Polio: Contracting & Symptoms 

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

Polio is a disease that is most often spread through contact with the stool (bowel movement) of an infected person. Polio germs can also be spread through food and water. The disease mainly affects children under 5 years old, but unvaccinated people of any age are at risk.

Up to 95% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms. About four to eight percent of infected persons have minor symptoms such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs which often resolves completely. Fewer than 1% of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually the legs). Of those paralyzed, 5-10% die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles.

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

Future of Polio eradication

A Strategic Plan 2010-2012, launched by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and spearheaded by Rotary International, UN Children’s Fund  UNICEF, the World Health Organization, national governments and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aims to build on success in endemic countries.

In May 2010 the World Health Assembly welcomed the new plan, which hinges on activities at the field level, while expressing deep concern about the $1.3 billion funding shortfall – out of a budget of $2.6 billion – over the next three years.

“The next three years, and especially the next 12 months, are critical to the polio eradication initiative and, by extension, the entire international public health agenda,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, calling on the international community to support the new effort.

Organizations such as the UN Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have also been instrumental in raising awareness and money for the vaccines that are needed to eradicate polio from the planet.

Click on the video below to hear traditional leader Sarkin Yaki of Kano speak about the chances for eradicating polio:

HUMNews Staff (sources: UN Foundation, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary International, UNICEF, WHO, CDC).

Angola Greatest Threat to Polio Eradication in Africa - WHO

(HN, October 2, 2010) - An immunization campaign is taking place this weekend in Angola to stop a polio outbreak in the country and to prevent the disease from being exported to neighbouring countries on the continent.

Rod Curtis of the World Health Organization (WHO) said only three countries in Africa have recorded any polio cases in the past four months, namely Nigeria, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He said the DRC was infected with polio across the boarder from Angola. Also, areas in Angola that had previously been polio-free have been re-infected this year from an expanding outbreak.

According to data from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) there have been 24 recorded cases of polio in Angola in the past 12 months - the most in this period of all African countries. Other infected countries in the continent are: Nigeria, DRC, Chad, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Liberia and Sierra Leone. GPEI says Angola has the highest number of wild polio virus (WPV1) cases in Africa - and the third-highest number in the world this year, behind only Tajikistan and Pakistan.

The good news is West Africa remains polio free, Curtis told a news briefing in Geneva monitored by HUMNEWS.

The vaccination campaigns in Angola target 5.6 million children with 7 million doses of oral polio vaccine. There was also a need to close existing immunization gaps. Up to 30 per cent of children were missed in campaigns and this had become a real focus for the national immunization days. WHO believed that the outbreak can be rapidly stopped, even by the end of the year, if these gaps are closed.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said given the upsurge in cases, UNICEF and WHO emphasized that, now more than ever, the key to ending polio is the full mobilization and commitment of all sectors and all stakeholders - especially local-level administrative leadership in planning and implementing the campaigns.

This weekend - and again at the end of the month - UNICEF, WHO and Rotary International are supporting tens of thousands of volunteers, health workers, parents, communities and traditional leaders to go from house to house and village to village in Angola to make sure that every child under the age of 5 iss reached with a polio vaccine.