polio

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January 12, 2012 | 10:56 AM | By

India marks one year without polio, inches toward eradication goal line

UNICEF

Child receives polio vaccine

India will have made it one year, as of Friday, without a reported case of polio — a milestone everyone in the global health community is celebrating.

Except for maybe all those skeptics who say, or said, polio will never be eradicated.

The goal here is a world completely without polio, of course, since if this infectious disease exists anywhere it can spread everywhere — as China recently discovered.

But this accomplishment by India, which not that long ago had the world’s lion share of polio cases, does a lot to get us closer to the day when this crippling, sometimes deadly, disease is eradicated.

I’ve seen the ravages of polio in poor countries and, back in 2003 when I was a reporter for the Seattle PI, traveled to parts of India where the polio cases were exploding and reported on the country’s difficulties trying to rid itself of this infectious disease.

It may sound a simple enough goal to vaccinate all kids against polio, but it’s not. I can attest to how complex and challenging it has been — because of the nature of this disease, the lack of health care resources in the countries most in need and the various forms of political opposition that can emerge to obstruct what might seem to many an obvious good.

India’s not out of the woods yet and the disease remains entrenched in three countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. But the fact that India appears to have completely rid itself of this disease is evidence that the global campaign to eradicate polio is that much closer to reality.

Indian health officials deserve a lot of credit for reaching this milestone, but credit for getting us where we are today should go first to Rotary International — which for decades has sustained the global vaccination effort against all odds (and lots of skepticism) — and then to organizations like UNICEF, the World Health Organization and, lately, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation has thrown a lot of money at this effort over the last ten years or so. Both Bill Gates and his father Bill Sr. also have been outspoken public champions of polio eradication — even to the point of apparently finally winning over the world’s leading polio eradication skeptic D.A. Henderson.

Here’s Bill Gates’ celebrating India’s achievement on Huffington Post

Other news stories of note:

Globe and Mail: How India conquered polio

Washington Post: Polio focus leaves other diseases behind

Reuters: India’s victory fuels endgame vaccine talks

Scientific American: India on track to be declared polio free

 

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, eradication, India, polio, Rotary International, UNICEF, vaccines, World Health Organization
October 24, 2011 | 12:54 PM | By

Polio — that frustrating bright light at the end of the tunnel.

UNICEF

Child receives polio vaccine

The global campaign to eradicate polio appears unlikely to achieve its goal of wiping this deadly and disabling disease off the face of the planet by the end of 2012 — but it is tantalizingly, frustratingly close.

Today is World Polio Day and there is much to celebrate, such as the fact that much of the world has rid itself of this infectious disease that as recently as 1988 killed or maimed 350,000 people every year in some 125 countries. According to the World Health Organization, polio is now endemic to only four countries  — India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan — and in 2010 the reported total cases were 1,349.

India is on track to get off that notorious list. This country, which not too long ago had a massive problem with polio, has only seen one case this year and appears to be on the verge of finally eliminating the disease.

But there are other troubling signs of losing ground, such as the recent spread of polio from Pakistan to China and and outbreak of polio in Madagascar, which had eliminated the disease. Resurgence of polio cases in other poor countries such as DR Congo and Chad have caused those pushing for global eradication to acknowledge the 2012 target is likely infeasible.

Wired magazine characterized this as a “scathing report,” which seemed a bit over top and made it sound like the problem here was malfeasance:

The problem is more complicated than that, beginning with the fact that this is a disease of poverty (and dirty water) — and it’s a very sneaky virus.

We’re 99 percent of the way there but, in reality, probably not as close to eradicating polio as these numbers may suggest. It’s the last few cases in remote communities that are always the hardest. But is there really much logic in giving up this battle, however frustrating and however many deadlines are missed?

Without the efforts of Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, not to mention UNICEF and WHO, we would all be much more familiar with the crippling signs of the failure to beat a preventable disease.

Here’s a bit of video advocacy from the Gates Foundation:

FILED UNDER: Health, polio
September 28, 2011 | 11:05 AM | By

Meanwhile, Bill Gates is in Nigeria to boost the polio eradication effort

Mike Urban

Children disabled by polio begging in Abuja

The global campaign to wipe out polio is 99 percent complete, but that remaining one percent has become a frustrating game of whack-a-mole.

China just this week has reported polio cases — the first since 1999. Health experts say the virus spread to western China from Pakistan, and threatens to spread even further.

Eradicating polio is one of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s top priorities and Nigeria is one of four countries where the virus continues to spread. So Gates is now in Nigeria, urging government leaders and community organizations to whack this mole for good.

Gates yesterday visited Kebbi state in northwestern Nigeria where, according to AllAfrica.com, he signed a “memorandum of understanding” with officials there to commit to finally getting rid of polio. Yeah, that should do it.

The agreement doesn’t mean much, of course, if Nigerians themselves aren’t already committed to ridding the disease themselves. Part of the problem has been the conflict between north and south, between different political factions, in Nigeria. And there is some deep (and somewhat legitimate) mistrust of government and government-endorsed programs, especially in the north.

Still, I think Gates visit will help. His willingness to go to northern Nigeria, to use his star power (yes, he has star power) will show Nigerians that the world’s richest man cares about the health of some of the world’s poorest people. That’s a good thing and will make a difference. Even if that memo doesn’t.

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill Gates, Nigeria, polio
September 26, 2011 | 12:08 PM | By

Polio spreading from Pakistan to China

UNICEF

Child receiving oral polio vaccine

This is a discouraging reminder that global health is truly global, especially when it comes to infectious disease.

As NPR’s Joe Neel reports today, Pakistan’s failure to eliminate polio appears to have spilled over into China and threatens to spread even wider. Neel reports:

The World Health Organization says the rates of polio in Pakistan have caused it to rate as “high” the risk of further international spread of the wild poliovirus from Pakistan …  there is particular concern with large population movements around the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Nov. 4-9.

Here are some other similar reports from Inter Press and the Washington Post, noting that this strain of the virus is more dangerous in that it is more easily spread.

The Economist says a “surge against polio” is needed now if the long-sought goal of polio eradication is to be achieved. A week or so ago, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation put out this video urging the international community to finish the job and eradicate polio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug_O7QjyQlI

Why is polio so especially difficult to control in Pakistan?

Poverty and lack of adequate health services are two reasons. But much poorer countries have succeeded in ridding themselves of this disabling and once rampant disease.

Conflict in Pakistan is also part of the problem. It’s difficult territory for humanitarian organizations. And foreign health campaigns may be especially mistrusted these days — given the U.S. and the West’s already strained relationship with Pakistan and this unfortunate CIA “fake vaccination” ploy done there a while ago.

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pakistan, polio, vaccines
July 29, 2011 | 8:15 AM | By

FC End Polio

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has teamed up with FC Barcelona (which, for you non-soccer fans, is thought to be the best team in the world) to promote the polio eradication campaign.

“Just as football is a universal sport with the power to transform lives, vaccines are a universal tool with the power to save lives,” said club manager Josep Guardiola.

As this video below emphasizes, we’re close to ending polio. As this recent article in The Economist notes, it won’t be easy. (It’s a great video clip, but I still don’t quite get the theme “More than a Goal.”)

SIDE NOTE: If you happen to just do a Google News search for the Gates Foundation today, you might see ranked high this headline about “Gates Foundation orders vaccination at gunpoint.” The story is attributed by something called NewsOne to the Malawi Voice, a government-run (and already somewhat dubious) news organization that apparently pulled the story off its website.

The story is absurd, of course, but a good reminder of how the robotic, self-selecting web can promote news stories of little or no merit based solely on a sensational headline:

 

 

FILED UNDER: Basics, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, polio
July 12, 2011 | 11:03 AM | By

Did CIA undermine global health by faking vaccines in hunt for Bin Laden?

by hitthatswitch, Flickr

One of the chronic problems the international community has with almost every disease-fighting campaign has been the need to overcome mistrust — mistrust of government, of foreign health workers or outsider do-gooders in general.

This is, for a variety of reasons, especially true of vaccines.

So many worry that such global health efforts will suffer from the revelation, reported first in The Guardian and later by the New York Times and others, that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) set up a fake vaccination program in Pakistan in order to collect DNA samples. Says The Guardian:

The CIA organised a fake vaccination program in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an elaborate attempt to obtain DNA from the fugitive al-Qaida leader’s family, a Guardian investigation has found.

The CIA has refused to confirm or deny these reports.

Most of the media reports tend to focus on issues of terrorism, foreign policy and the increasingly strained relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan. There was little attention, initially anyway, given to the possibility that this CIA ruse could also seriously undermine a key tool in the worldwide battle against disease. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Politics, Brett Keller, Chris Albon, CIA, Pakistan, polio, vaccination
May 16, 2011 | 8:00 AM | By

World Health Assembly opens to Taiwan outrage, smallpox debate, speeches by Bill Gates and Muhammad Yunus’ arch-enemy

WHO

World Health Organization

The World Health Assembly opens today in Geneva for week-long confab on what to do about global health.

I’ve not attended one of these meetings, which sets priorities for the World Health Organization, but from a distance it always looks like kind of a mess. A well-intentioned mess maybe but a mess nonetheless, partly because almost everything under the sun is allowed a place on the agenda. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Politics, Bill Gates, cell phones, maternal health, microfinance, polio, smallpox, World Health Assembly, World Health Organization
March 17, 2011 | 10:03 AM | By

Gates Foundation opens new round of requests for wacky ideas

Flickr, Vicki & Chuck Rogers

Mad Scientist

Well, maybe not too wacky.

The Gates Foundation is accepting proposals from scientists, engineers, inventors or anyone with a creative idea aimed at solving some key problems in global health.

This is Round 7 for the Grand Challenges Exploration program, a $100 million initiative which offers $100,000 grants in seed money for “unconventional” ideas on:

Synthetic biology? Hmmm, I guess that has to do with combining biology and computers, or some form of engineering technique that allows researchers to manipulate genes and proteins like they might jigger with bits and bytes, or microprocessors and microchips. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges, polio