PolioPlus Update
Let's Keep Up the Fight!
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As of May 27, 2016, only sixteen cases of polio have been reported in the world – five in Afghanistan and eleven in Pakistan. The eradication of polio is clearly in site. So why contribute to PolioPlus any further?
According to David Green, Rotary Foundation’s Coordinator for PolioPlus:
“Our funds are not only working to interrupt the transmission of the wild poliovirus in the two remaining endemic countries (Pakistan and Afghanistan), but also to keep the rest of the world polio-free. For example, there are up to 60 countries still conducting large-scale immunization campaigns this year, many at risk of the virus returning due to conflict, weak health systems and other emergencies. As we get closer to the end, we also need to increase surveillance, to ensure the virus is truly gone from other parts of the world. Given that only one in 200 cases of polio result in paralysis, we rely on the program’s extensive surveillance/laboratory network to tell us where polio does (and does not) exist.
Furthermore, until polio is eradicated, the risk of resurgence remains. Failure to eradicate polio could result in global resurgence of the disease, with 200,000 new cases every single year, within ten years, all over the world.”
Let’s keep up the fight for a Polio Free World. Thank you for your continued support!