Polio Eradication

By Andres Arevalo
For my UNA-USA internship, I attended a lecture about polio eradication yesterday in the UNICEF headquarters. As part of the American government’s effort to form a deeper partnership with the Islamic World following president Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009, the State Department partnered with the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in joint efforts to eradicate the disease. The partnership is the last step in a wide eradication campaign started in 1988 by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the Rotary Club that so far has lowered global incidence by 99%. However, Polio is still endemic in four countries, Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, three of which are OIC members. Polio is highly contagious disease that may lead to paralysis and in some cases death. Leaders such as the Emir of Argungu Alhaji Sama ‘la Mera, the traditional head of a Northern Nigerian community, spoke about their efforts to vaccinate people against Polio. The Emir emphasized the need to engage traditional leaders in order to reach people in certain regions of the world, particularly in communities like his where fundamental Muslim sects like the Islahuddin refuse vaccines. The Secretary General of the OIC, Dr. Ekmeliddin Ihsanoglu also spoke about the importance of reaching towards “religious and community leaders for help towards polio eradication”, especially since polio infected areas include regions like the Afghan-Pakistani border where Tribal sects control the government. Dr. Ihsanoglu also spoke about the need for “indigenous production of vaccines”, arguing that dependence on foreign funding may bring negative consequences to OIC member states.
Chris Maher of the World Health Organization praised the efforts of countries such as India and Nigeria in their eradication efforts. They are currently on track to become polio free by 2011. However, challenges exist, a recent Polio outbreak in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, a non-endemic country, demonstrated that efforts towards eradication should not stop. However the largest risk the operation faces is the funding gap it faces. The joint operation is about 800 million dollars short despite commitments by the U.S government, the OIC, the Islamic Development Bank, and organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As Saad Houry, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, stated, “We may lose all previous investments if we do not reach the goal”. Houry also emphasized the fact that this is a unique opportunity for humanity to completely eradicate a deadly disease, only the second time in history this would be achieved (after smallpox).