US $400 million needed to eradicate polio

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that a gap of US $400 million could hinder the completion of its polio eradication programme and has called on the international community to help raise the remaining funds. WHO’s statement came on Friday after the Polio Technical Consultative Group (TCG) presented the UN agency with results compiled since 1999. The number of cases worldwide has dropped from 7151 to 2847, but polio is still endemic in 20 countries, mainly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and this situation could persist unless the required funding is received. “Without the funds, the remaining infected countries simply cannot finish the job,” TCG chairman Walt Orenstein said. The US $400 million would go towards immunising the 1 percent of children who have not been vaccinated since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria are among the most infected countries, WHO said.