Poliomyelitis,commonly shortened to polio,is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic;mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever;in a proportion of cases more severe symptoms develop such as headache,neck stiffness,and paresthesia. These symptoms usually pass within one or two weeks. A less common symptom is permanent paralysis,and possible death in extreme cases. Years after recovery,post-polio syndrome may occur,with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.
Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used:an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all children be fully vaccinated against polio. The two vaccines have eliminated polio from most of the world,and reduced the number of cases reported each year from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to 33 in 2018.
Pulse Polio is an immunisation campaign established by the government of India to eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus. The project fights polio through a large-scale,pulse vaccination programme and monitoring for poliomyelitis cases.
Polio eradication,the goal of permanent global cessation of circulation of the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes,is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988,led by the World Health Organization (WHO),the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Rotary Foundation. These organizations,along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Gates Foundation,have spearheaded the campaign through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Successful eradication of infectious diseases has been achieved twice before,with smallpox in humans and rinderpest in ruminants.
Mali,one of the world's poorest nations,is greatly affected by poverty,malnutrition,epidemics,and inadequate hygiene and sanitation. Mali's health and development indicators rank among the worst in the world,with little improvement over the last 20 years. Progress is impeded by Mali's poverty and by a lack of physicians. The 2012 conflict in northern Mali exacerbated difficulties in delivering health services to refugees living in the north. With a landlocked,agricultural-based economy,Mali is highly vulnerable to climate change. A catastrophic harvest in 2023 together with escalations in armed conflict have exacerbated food insecurity in Northern and Central Mali.
Jean Marie Okwo-Bele is a Congolese physician,public health expert and former Director of the Department of Immunization,Vaccines and Biologicals of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Muhammad Ali Pate is a Nigerian physician, politician,and the current Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Nigeria,appointed in 2023. He also serves as a Professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University. He is the Director of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) for Women,Children and Adolescents at the World Bank Group.
Pakistan is one of the two remaining countries in the world where poliomyelitis (polio) is still categorized as an endemic viral infection,the other one being Afghanistan. While it has yet to fully eradicate polio,there has been a major downwards trend in the number of reported cases per year;the total count of wild poliovirus cases in Pakistan in 2019 was down to 147,compared to 84 in 2020,1 in 2021,20 in 2022,6 in 2023 and 41 as of October 2024.
The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease,centered in West Africa,was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region,mainly in Guinea,Liberia and Sierra Leone. The first cases were recorded in Guinea in December 2013;the disease spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone,with minor outbreaks occurring in Nigeria and Mali. Secondary infections of medical workers occurred in the United States and Spain. Isolated cases were recorded in Senegal,the United Kingdom and Italy. The number of cases peaked in October 2014 and then began to decline gradually,following the commitment of substantial international resources.
An Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone occurred in 2014,along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Liberia. At the time it was discovered,it was thought that Ebola virus was not endemic to Sierra Leone or to the West African region and that the epidemic represented the first time the virus was discovered there. However,US researchers pointed to lab samples used for Lassa fever testing to suggest that Ebola had been in Sierra Leone as early as 2006.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea from 2013 to 2016 represented the first-ever outbreak of Ebola in a West African country. Previous outbreaks had been confined to several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease occurred in Liberia from 2014 to 2016,along with the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The first cases of virus were reported by late March 2014. The Ebola virus,a biosafety level four pathogen,is an RNA virus discovered in 1976.
Organizations from around the world responded to the West African Ebola virus epidemic. In July 2014,the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency meeting with health ministers from eleven countries and announced collaboration on a strategy to co-ordinate technical support to combat the epidemic. In August,they declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and published a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak,aiming to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months. In September,the United Nations Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the West Africa subregion a "threat to international peace and security" and unanimously adopted a resolution urging UN member states to provide more resources to fight the outbreak;the WHO stated that the cost for combating the epidemic will be a minimum of $1 billion.
Oyewale Tomori is a Nigerian professor of virology,educational administrator,and former vice chancellor of Redeemer's University. In 2024,he became the chair of West Africa National Academy of Scientists.
Cases of the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria were reported in 2014 as a small part of the epidemic of Ebola virus disease which originated in Guinea that represented the first outbreak of the disease in a West African country. Previous outbreaks had been confined to countries in Central Africa.
Michael Joseph Ryan is an Irish epidemiologist and former trauma surgeon,specialising in infectious disease and public health. He is executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme,leading the team responsible for the international containment and treatment of COVID-19. Ryan has held leadership positions and has worked on various outbreak response teams in the field to eradicate the spread of diseases including bacillary dysentery,cholera,Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever,Ebola,Marburg virus disease,measles,meningitis,relapsing fever,Rift Valley fever,SARS,and Shigellosis.
Bruce Aylward is a Canadian physician and epidemiologist. Since September 2017 he has been Senior Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization. He is part of the implementation of the WHO's COVAX Facility. He has past experience in the areas of polio eradication,Zika virus,and Ebola.
The World Health Organization (WHO) created the Global Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis in 1995 to independently verify the eradication of wild poliovirus. The GCC certified the worldwide eradication of indigenous wild poliovirus type 2 on 20 September 2015,and wild poliovirus type 3 on 17 October 2019. In addition,five of the six World Health Organization Regions certified their status as free of indigenous transmission of all three serotypes of wild poliovirus:
Mohamed Belhocine is an Algerian medical scientist and professor of internal medicine and epidemiology.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency otherwise known as NPHCDA is a Federal Government of Nigeria agency established to improve access to quality primary healthcare services,enhance immunization coverage,and promote sustainable health initiatives for communities across the nation.
