Insufficient funding, lawlessness, threats to workers major hurdles

Insufficient funding, lawlessness and the vaccination workers’ failure to operate in restive areas in endemic countries have emerged as major challenges to a new $5.5 billion global plan to halt all polio outbreaks by the end of next year and eradicate the paralysing virus in the next five years. Polio spread across the world in 1950s but is now prevalent only in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, all Islamic countries. Halting all wild polio virus transmission by end of 2014, strengthening routine. Immunisation and withdrawing all oral polio vaccine from routine immunisation programmes, certifying eradication and containment of all wild polioviruses in all World Health Organisation regions, and legacy planning are the key objectives of the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan (2013-2018) prepared by Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership led by national governments and spearheaded by WHO, United Nations Children’s Fund and Rotary International. However, raising the $5.5 billion for the...