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 that which the person had during the initial infection.
David L. Heymann is an American infectious disease epidemiologist and public health expert,based in London.
Polio eradication,the 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.
The eradication of infectious diseases is the reduction of the prevalence of an infectious disease in the global host population to zero.
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 and politician who is the current Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Nigeria since 2023. He's also a professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University. He formerly served as the Global Director for Health,Nutrition and Population and director of the Global Financing Facility for Women,Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group. Pate is also the former Minister of State for Health in Nigeria.
Onyebuchi Chukwu is a Nigerian politician who served as Minister of Health from 2010 until 2014.
The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease,centered in Western 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;later,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. In addition,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.
A public health emergency of international concern is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of "an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response",formulated when a situation arises that is "serious,sudden,unusual,or unexpected",which "carries implications for public health beyond the affected state's national border" and "may require immediate international action". Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR),states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC. The declaration is publicized by an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) of international experts,which was developed following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
Dr. Ado Jimada Gana Muhammad (OON) (was born on January 18,1967) is the Global Programme Director at the D-8 Health and Social Protection Programme and was once the Executive Director/CEO of the Nigeria' s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA),the government organ responsible for developing national primary health care (PHC) policy and supporting states and Local Government Areas (LGAs) to implement them. Dr. Muhammad was appointed to that position on November 1,2011,by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Prior to his appointment,Dr Ado served as a Special Assistant to the permanent secretary,Dr Daudu,in the State House,Abuja. Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State,where Dr. Muhammad hails from,commended President Goodluck Jonathan for appointing the medical doctor,describing the action as putting "a square peg in a square hole". Dr Ado succeeded Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate who was in 2011 appointed as the Minister of State for Health,thereby creating a vacuum at the NPHCDA.
An epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea from 2013 to 2016 represents the first ever outbreak of Ebola in a West African country. Previous outbreaks have been confined to several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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.
Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese microbiologist. He is the general director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (INRB). He was part of team at the Yambuku Catholic Mission Hospital that investigated the first Ebola outbreak,and was part of the effort that discovered Ebola as a new disease,although his exact role is still subject to controversy. In 2016,he led the research that designed,along with other researchers at the INRB and the National Institute of Health Vaccine Research Center in the US,one of the most promising treatment for Ebola,mAb114. The treatment was successfully experimented during recent outbreaks in the DRC,on the express decision of the then DRC Minister of Health,Dr Oly Ilunga,despite a prior negative advice from the World Health Organization.
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.
Sara Frances Beysolow Nyanti is an international development expert and Liberian pastor. She has more than 20 years of professional experience. She was the United Nations Assistant Secretary General from December 2021 to her retirement in July 2023.
