News Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 8, 2004 |
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
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HHS SECRETARY TRAVELS TO POLIO-AFFECTED COUNTRIES
Pledges U.S. Support For Global Effort To Eliminate Disease By End Of 2004
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, traveling in India, today announced that the United States and its global partners are on track to eradicate polio by the end of 2004. Secretary Thompson credited the cooperation between the U.S. government and its global partners for the remarkable progress that has occurred in the fight against polio.
"I believe we can eliminate polio within a matter of months, not years," Secretary Thompson said. "Polio has claimed too many lives and caused too much destruction. It's time we end this scourge forever."
Secretary Thompson has traveled this week to three of the six nations which remain polio endemic: India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In today's announcement, he stressed the need for the United States to continue to partner with committed national governments, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Rotary International.
"This truly is a global effort," said Secretary Thompson. "The United States is proud to be working toward this noble goal with our public and private partners around the world."
Polio cases have declined dramatically since 1988, when countries from around the world came together to establish the goal of complete polio eradication. At that time, wild poliovirus was endemic in more than 125 countries on five continents and paralyzed nearly 1,000 children every day.
Over the last 15 years, polio cases have been reduced by more than 99 percent worldwide, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to only 784 cases reported in 2003.
HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the spearheading partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is seeking to certify the global eradication of polio. Over the last 15 years, the Initiative has invested more than $3 billion and engaged more than 200 countries around the world in the fight against polio.
HHS has contributed significant resources to this global effort, with HHS funds supporting programs such as the Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) program. At the invitation of UNICEF, WHO, and host countries, STOP trains and sends qualified public health professionals as volunteers to conduct polio surveillance in developing countries. STOP team members also work with Ministries of Health at the field level to help plan, implement, and evaluate countries' National Immunization Days (NIDs), during which children are immunized against polio. Since it began in 1999, STOP has deployed 516 health professionals to 53 countries.
In addition to the STOP program, HHS is providing significant financial and technical support to countries affected by polio. The CDC laboratory provides technical support to the eradication campaign, including detailed wild poliovirus sequencing data for Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition, the CDC laboratory also serves as the back-up laboratory for both countries.
India is the highest strategic priority for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative because of its population, size, and global stature. After suffering the largest polio epidemic in recent history --1600 cases in 2002 -- India has made tremendous progress within the last 12 months and is now close to eradicating the disease. The country has reported only 225 cases of polio in 2003 and only eight cases thus far in 2004.
Polio is a highly contagious infectious disease that can cause debilitating effects including paralysis and death. It is spread person-to-person and primarily affects children. More than 80 percent of all people paralyzed by polio are under five years old.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: April 8, 2004
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