Eradication Effort

• The Global Eradication Effort kicked off in 1988 at which time there were a reported 350,00 cases of polio occurring annually (Aylward, 2006).
• As of today, there are less than 1000 reported cases world-wide.  The GPEI has been successful in reducing the number of polio cases by 99%.  While it has been quite successful, the GPEI did not meet its primary goal and that was global eradication of polio by the year 2000 (Aylward, 2006).

• Polio has been eradicated in North and South America, the Western Pacific and all but four countries of Africa and Asia (World Health Organization/GPEI, Annual Report, 2006). 

• Four countries continue to be endemic for polio.  They are Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.  These countries have, up until recently, never made any real effort to stop indigenous polio.  Other countries have reported cases of polio as a result of importation of the virus (www.cdc.gov).  

•  The process of eradication moved stealthily along for over 14 years at a cost of $5.3billion dollars (NIAID presentation, 2007).

• Challenges to the Eradication effort center around the vaccine and the vaccination program. Specifically the social and cultural beliefs of the people in the endemic countries, the safety of oral polio vaccine, and the logistics of the vaccination program.

                            Polio's Toll in Sierra Leone (World Health Organization; JMGeboux)

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