Health Leaders Vow to Meet Polio Eradication Goal

They agreed to step up their vigilance and their vaccination programmes in order to meet polio eradication targets this during 2005. The 2005 eradication strategy for Africa, established by Health Ministers of eight African countries at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva, involves a massive series of immunization campaigns across 25 countries, supported by strengthened polio surveillance. "Cases began to rise during 2003 following a suspension of polio immunization activities in parts of Nigeria. The upswing rapidly reached epidemic proportions, propelled by low immunization rates across the region. The continent is further threatened by the swift spread of the epidemic in Sudan in late 2004 and the halt of immunization activities in Côte d'Ivoire due to civil unrest," said a joint statement issued on January 13, 2005 by several organizations, among them the World Health Organization (WHO) and Rotary International. Following resumed polio immunization in Nigeria's northern State of Kano in mid-2004, Africa held the world's largest series of immunization activities, synchronized across 23 African countries, reaching 80 million children. "These campaigns have begun to rein in the epidemic. In northern Nigeria, independent monitoring shows that nearly 75 per cent of children were vaccinated against polio, the highest numbers ever for the area," said the statement. Despite spread of the virus to Sudan and Saudi Arabia, ministers are now optimistic about wiping out the paralysing disease. At the upcoming African Union summit in Abuja (29-30 January) the continent's heads of state are expected to announce a ramp-up of action and to vow to increase independent monitoring of immunization activities to ensure quality coverage.