Bangladesh polio-free
WHO recognises feat of 11 countries
Porimol Palma
Bangladesh and ten other Southeast Asian countries were declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday, a feat in public health in the region.
WHO's Southeast Asian Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication made the declaration through a ceremony held at the organisation's New Delhi office.
"The committee concluded that the wild poliovirus transmission has been interrupted in the SEA region and it officially declared it free from wild poliovirus," said Dr Supamit Chunsuttiwat, certification committee representative, at the programme.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Health Zahid Malek led a delegation to the event, where representatives of all the eleven countries were handed over the certificates.
The ten other countries declared polio-free are Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
An independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties constituting the certification commission met for two days to review evidence from countries, reads a media release on the WHO website.
To be polio-free, a region needs to have at least three years of zero confirmed cases of indigenous wild poliovirus transmission, excellent laboratory-based surveillance and capacity to detect, report and respond to imported cases of poliomyelitis and assurance of safe containment of polioviruses in laboratories.
"The polio threat is not over truly until the wild poliovirus is eradicated globally. We have to keep the momentum going," said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director for the WHO South-East Asia Region, according to a video clip of the event uploaded on the WHO website.
Appreciating the strong policies and commitment of the countries, efforts by health workers and contributions of funding partners, she said the ceremony marked one of the biggest public health achievements.
The UN in 1988 set a target for eradicating polio, an acute viral, infectious disease causing paralysis. Since then, relevant UN organisations, governments, international and national NGOs have been working to eradicate the deadly disease.
Dr Md Tajul Islam A Bari of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told The Daily Star that Bangladesh's massive immunisation and surveillance programme since the 1990's had brought it the success.
With the certification, the region has joined Europe, the Americas and Western Pacific regions that were earlier declared free of polio. Now, 80 percent of the world's population lives in certified polio-free regions.
Eastern Mediterranean and African regions are still to go a long way to be polio-free.
Of the 37 polio cases reported in 2014, 29 were in Pakistan and three in Afghanistan. Bangladesh found its last case in 2006.
The WHO representative in Bangladesh, Dr Thushara Fernando, termed it a great achievement, but warned that until the entire world was declared polio-free, none could relax.
“We will facilitate the actions identified by the plan on polio endgame. It includes transition from oral polio vaccine to injectable polio vaccine,” he said in a statement.
According to WHO, more than 120 countries currently use only oral polio vaccines (OPV), and that these countries will introduce a dose of inactivated polio vaccine by the end of 2015 to ensure a polio-free world by 2018.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, “High immunisation coverage can prevent an imported virus from finding an underimmunised, susceptible population.”
WHO's Southeast Asian Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication made the declaration through a ceremony held at the organisation's New Delhi office.
"The committee concluded that the wild poliovirus transmission has been interrupted in the SEA region and it officially declared it free from wild poliovirus," said Dr Supamit Chunsuttiwat, certification committee representative, at the programme.
Bangladesh's State Minister for Health Zahid Malek led a delegation to the event, where representatives of all the eleven countries were handed over the certificates.
The ten other countries declared polio-free are Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
An independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties constituting the certification commission met for two days to review evidence from countries, reads a media release on the WHO website.
To be polio-free, a region needs to have at least three years of zero confirmed cases of indigenous wild poliovirus transmission, excellent laboratory-based surveillance and capacity to detect, report and respond to imported cases of poliomyelitis and assurance of safe containment of polioviruses in laboratories.
"The polio threat is not over truly until the wild poliovirus is eradicated globally. We have to keep the momentum going," said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director for the WHO South-East Asia Region, according to a video clip of the event uploaded on the WHO website.
Appreciating the strong policies and commitment of the countries, efforts by health workers and contributions of funding partners, she said the ceremony marked one of the biggest public health achievements.
The UN in 1988 set a target for eradicating polio, an acute viral, infectious disease causing paralysis. Since then, relevant UN organisations, governments, international and national NGOs have been working to eradicate the deadly disease.
Dr Md Tajul Islam A Bari of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told The Daily Star that Bangladesh's massive immunisation and surveillance programme since the 1990's had brought it the success.
With the certification, the region has joined Europe, the Americas and Western Pacific regions that were earlier declared free of polio. Now, 80 percent of the world's population lives in certified polio-free regions.
Eastern Mediterranean and African regions are still to go a long way to be polio-free.
Of the 37 polio cases reported in 2014, 29 were in Pakistan and three in Afghanistan. Bangladesh found its last case in 2006.
The WHO representative in Bangladesh, Dr Thushara Fernando, termed it a great achievement, but warned that until the entire world was declared polio-free, none could relax.
“We will facilitate the actions identified by the plan on polio endgame. It includes transition from oral polio vaccine to injectable polio vaccine,” he said in a statement.
According to WHO, more than 120 countries currently use only oral polio vaccines (OPV), and that these countries will introduce a dose of inactivated polio vaccine by the end of 2015 to ensure a polio-free world by 2018.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, “High immunisation coverage can prevent an imported virus from finding an underimmunised, susceptible population.”
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