Bill finds another $200m to beat polio

The fight against polio has had an enormous boost by way of a grant of $200m from Bill Gates and Rotary.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the grant comes at a critical time in the global battle against polio.

It must be said that without the enormous generosity of organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International, many campaigns to eradicate diseases such as polio and malaria in developing countries would have far less impact.

The grant comes at an opportune moment as the WHO has called for more donations to boost its drive to eradicate the disease altogether.

Even though immunisation programmes in the last 20 years have dramatically cut the number of new polio cases the disease remains endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan where vaccination programmes have encountered a range of problems.

India and Nigeria together have accounted for most of the world's 735 reported polio cases so far this year.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative involving more than 200 countries has succeeded in reducing the number of polio cases worldwide from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,997 in 2006.

Though that figure has now been reduced to just over 700 a year, attempts to completely eradicate polio have so far been unsuccessful.

The WHO launched a fresh campaign at the start of the year calling for greater commitment from the developed world and WHO's director general, Dr. Margaret Chan, says the donation comes at a critical time as it is the last pockets of the disease which are the hardest and the most costly to reach.

These are the communities where armed conflict and cultural barriers mean people often have poor health services and it can be difficult to reach children and ensure they receive booster doses.

Such parents often fail to understand that the vaccine needs to be given more than once and may refuse it and cultural obstacles mean some people will be denied the vaccinations.

Health workers insist however that, with extra support, eradication is now within reach.

The polio virus is highly infectious and usually causes common cold symptoms, but in a small percentage of people it spreads to the digestive and nervous systems and causes severe, lasting damage where victims struggle to walk and breathe.

Most of the money will be spent to boost mass immunisation campaigns in the polio-affected countries, polio virus surveillance activities and community education and outreach.