Australia recommits to eradicating ancient disease

Photo credit: GAVI Alliance

RESULTS Australia media release

RESULTS International (Australia) applauds the commitment re-iterated by the Australian government on Sunday to eradicate polio from the entire world. 

Australia will be investing $100 million into the campaign, with the aim of eradicating polio completely by 2018. This investment not only honours an aid commitment made by the previous Labor government, but also shows the Abbott government's dedication to eradicating the disease by extending and increasing our commitment.

This investment will be hosted by the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI), which is the coordinating body for all international agencies working to eliminate and eradicate polio.

Polio is a viral disease that is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and multiplies in the intestine. It can affect the central nervous system, and causes paralysis in one in every 200 infections.
Since its establishment in 1988, GPEI has successfully reduced polio cases by more than 99%, from more than 300,000 per year to just 417 cases in 2013.

The announcement by the Foreign Minister came with the opening of Rotary's 105th International Convention on Sunday. Hosted in Sydney this week, Rotary's annual convention was opened Sunday by the NSW Premier Mike Baird and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and expects to see more than 18,000 international Rotarians. 

"Eradicating polio around the world has been an Australian project," said Samantha Chivers, Global Health Campaign Manager at RESULTS Australia. 

"It was a Queensland Rotarian, Sir Clem Renouf, who lived through the eradication of smallpox and had the vision that polio could be eradicated in the same way," Samantha continued. 

"Australian aid and community support has been vital in supporting GPEI and keeping the issue high on the agenda. Now we have to up the ante, as that last 1% will be the hardest."

India, a country of over one billion people, saw its last case of polio in 2010, and was certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation in March this year. India joins the Pacific, Southeast Asian, European and American regions in being completely polio free.

Polio now remains endemic in only three countries: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, cases are beginning to re-emerge in countries including Ethiopia, Iraq, and Israel. War-torn Syria, whose health system has collapsed, was polio-free for 14 years, and was re-infected with the virus from Pakistan.

At the beginning of May, the World Health Organisation declared that the spread of polio is an international public health emergency.

Endemic polio is preventable by vaccination, with oral vaccination of three drops being the preferred method so far.

"The public health community has seen great success with the oral vaccine. However, in order to completely eradicate polio and not just prevent infection in an individual, an injectable vaccine is needed, and this complicates the logistics and increases the price substantially" Samantha said.

The GAVI Alliance is the leading partnership providing vaccines to the developing world at low prices. GAVI announced earlier this year that it will begin supporting injectable polio vaccine (IPV) to 73 of the poorest countries in the world by the end of the year.

"We are very encouraged by the commitment made yesterday," Samantha said, "Increasing vaccination is a very effective use of our aid money. Now we need to see more support made to GAVI as well, so we can completely destroy this ancient disease forever."

Delivering life-saving vaccines to every child: Polio can pave the way

Photo Courtesy of www.thenews.com.pk

We know how successful outcomes can be when we coordinate our efforts and resources. Worldwide commitment has seen smallpox eliminated. After more than ten thousand years of blinding, disfiguring and killing humans, in 1979 the highly infectious disease was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization.

Now the eradication of polio is also within our reach. Polio cases have decreased by more than 99% since 1988. Two years ago, India – long regarded as the most difficult place in the world to end polio - was declared polio-free. Last year only five countries recorded cases of polio worldwide.

Australia has shown strong leadership in this push to end polio. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in late 2011, Prime Minister Julia Gillard led a call for much needed financial resources, pledging AU$50 million towards ending polio once and for all.

This incredible opportunity is being coordinated by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) , which is synchronising efforts to reach even the most remote and at risk. If one child remains vulnerable to polio, our efforts have not succeeded.

There is no cure for polio. All of the gains we have made in eradicating polio are due to vaccines. By vaccinating each and every child, even those living in poverty and the most hard to reach places, we will soon see a world free of this disabling disease.

Last week was host to the Global Vaccines Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where a 2013-2018 Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategy will be released. The strategy has been endorsed by hundreds of scientists across the globe.

In attendance is the Young Australian of the Year award winner, Akram Azimi, who is travelling with the Global Poverty Project as part of their End of Polio campaign. Akram has been a strong voice for polio eradication in Australia and beyond, drawing on his experiences of receiving a polio vaccine as a child in Afghanistan, and having lived in Pakistan, two of the final frontiers of the battle to end polio.

Acknowledging the life-saving effect of Australian foreign aid, Akram has also highlighted the importance of equitable access to vaccines for all people. At the acceptance of his Young Australian of the Year award, Mr Azimi stressed his belief “that every child deserves the right to a healthy life, whoever they are and wherever they were born – whether in Perth, the heart of the Kimberly or Afghanistan”.

While we are close to defeating polio, more than a million children still die each year from other vaccine-preventable illnesses , and these deaths are disproportionately high in developing countries.  We have vaccines for diseases such as rotavirus, pneumococcal and hepatitis B. We may soon also have vaccines for malaria and TB. But we still aren’t reaching millions of children each year.

Given the role that poverty plays in increasing vulnerability to infection and illness, the same children that miss out on access to vaccines are often those that are most in need of the protection. Through striving for equitable access to vaccines for all we have a real opportunity to turn the tide of the growing disparity between rich and poor.

The significance of eradicating polio should not be underestimated. With strong political will, public engagement and financing, the end of polio could be just a first step towards protecting every last child from preventable disease. This is an opportunity that must not be lost and we all have a part to play: governments, private companies, communities, individuals.

Australia showed great leadership at CHOGM through their commitment towards ending polio, but there is still much to be done. Australia will announce its federal budget on 14 May. This is an incredible opportunity for the country to show continuing leadership in the fight against global poverty, disease and inequity. A strong declaration for foreign aid, in line with the commitment of a growing aid budget, 0.37% Gross National Income (GNI) pledged towards Official Development Assistance, on track to reach 0.5% GNI by 2016/17, would be a clear signal that Australia can be counted on to go that last, and critically important, mile.

Eradicate Polio in 2014

Michael Sheldrick, Global Policy and Advocacy Manager with the Global Poverty Project and RESULTS' February conference call guest speaker.

Did you know that Polio could be eradicated by 2014 and the world could be certified polio-free by 2018? This is an opportunity that cannot be missed!

Polio is a debilitating and potentially fatal disease that continues to affect children in some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world. Polio is preventable through vaccination and there are currently only three countries in the world where polio has never been stopped.

At present, unprecedented global efforts are delivering significant progress. One of Australia’s foremost advocates for the end of polio is Michael Sheldrick, Global Policy and Advocacy Manager with the Global Poverty Project . Michael currently coordinates The End of Polio campaign, which has helped mobilise more than $100 million in support of polio eradication efforts . Here, Michael shares his experience of campaigning for the end of polio; "It has now been two years since I first joined Global Poverty Project to head up its campaigning around polio. I would be lying if I said that in that time I haven't experienced those difficult times we all face as activists when people smear our cause and turn us away. But I've also had the opportunity to meet and be inspired by some of the most extraordinary individuals and activists who collectively form part of the largest non-violent army the world has ever seen. I've had the opportunity to participate in immunisation efforts in India and meet just a few of the thousands of health workers who have been at the very heart and soul of this effort. I've worked with a remarkable group of Pakistani student activists called the Bioreach Society who are taking it upon themselves to ensure a polio-free Pakistan.

Finally, I've met countless of activists - just like RESULTS members - in key donor countries like Australia who's unrelenting stream of letters, phone calls, petition signatures, flash mobs and emails have helped ensure polio eradication remains a priority for our nation's leaders. Together, all of these activists and volunteers are the real heroes of polio eradication and it has been a privilege to play just a small part in this amazing story of human endeavour that demonstrates the life-changing impact of our foreign aid dollars as well as progress in the broader struggle against extreme poverty.

For more information, please check out some of the following blogs by both myself and fellow activists:

• My experience in participating in a national immunisation campaign in India last year .

• The experiences of my friend, Fatima Riaz, in building a movement of passionate student activists in Pakistan .

• A message from one of my best mates, Akram Azimi, on why he is using his post as 2013 Young Australian of the Year to advocate for the end of polio ."

Michael Sheldrick is RESULTS’ guest speaker on our national conference call this month. Join us to learn more about how Australia through a growing aid budget can help to end polio for good, and how important it is that we ask our parliamentarians to support an increase in Australian aid. (Contact 100days@results.org.au on how to join our conference call.)