export_ofoct.com

[00:00.44] At one time polio paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children every year.

[00:07.09] In Africa alone, it afflicted 75,000 children annually. That's no longer the case.

[00:14.01] We have just achieved a major milestone in global polio eradication, with the certification of the African region as well polio virus free.

[00:27.55] A vaccine ended polio in the developed world more than 50 years ago.

[00:31.01] In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative decided to end polio in developing countries.

[00:39.24] It's taken a lot of work: countless volunteers, global leadership, local leadership and the backing of many donors.

[00:48.55] But now the wild polio virus exists only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[00:54.66] In both countries, there has been a resurgence of the virus in recent years.

[01:00.77] In Pakistan, people displaced by violence and conflict have resettled in communities with poor health services and sanitation.

[01:09.54] Polio virus is very unforgiving in these communities. You know, they're densely settled. They're, you know, poor sanitation and hygiene.

[01:18.83] The conditions are very favorable for polio virus transmission to thrive, to be really entrenched there.

[01:26.54] Jafari says the eradication program is now helping these communities meet more of their health needs like access to clean water.

[01:36.63] In Afghanistan, the Taliban doesn't allow mass inoculations or house-to-house immunizations.

[01:43.27] If you don't do house-to-house campaigns, can you perhaps carry out immunization campaigns in small immunization centers?

[01:50.99] Many small immunization centers in a particular community, so that families don't have to travel very far to have their children immunized.

[01:59.22] So we're trying to be creative, and looking at ways to move our polio eradication efforts forward in those two remaining endemic countries.

[02:07.99] Because of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccinators in all countries wear masks and gloves.

[02:13.83] Global polio eradication is close and the milestones are significant, but unless the disease is wiped out in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it could once again circulate globally.