The InterDependent

Romania has committed $20,000 to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, its first grant in the arena of polio vaccines. The money will inoculate 40,000 children; Britain will match one-fifth of the amount to vaccinate 8,000 more children. Romania is the 20th European country to take part in the initiative; the total donations from all European countries is $1.78 billion.

Polio remains endemic in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, accounting for 75 percent of all cases worldwide; a wild version of the virus has also affected 20 other countries – primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. The disease, which can be prevented with an oral vaccine that costs 50 to 60 cents a dose, mainly affects children under five years old and can cause permanent paralysis and potentially fatal infections. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988, when about 350,000 cases were outstanding throughout the world; the program has virtually wiped out the disease, leaving about 1,350 cases globally. But since 2003, annual cases have fluctuated from 1,000 to 2,000, and 12 to 23 countries have been reporting polio cases every year.

The initiative is a public-private program of more than 200 countries, backed with a U.S. investment of $8 billion and led by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, Unicef and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other partners include the United Nations Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and De Beers.

Olivier Chassot/UN Photo

A UN polio vaccine campaign working in a displaced-persons camp in Darfur, Sudan, earlier this year.

A concerted push was made in 2008 to eliminate polio completely, focused on new vaccine formulations and delivery methods as well as testing new approaches to reach children who had been missed before and assessing other roadblocks, like political resistance in some areas. Increased coverage was also carried out in the endemic countries, with particular success in northern Nigeria and northern India. The border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is where the endemic cases reside.

In Asia, persistent spread of the disease is highly localized in a few districts. In sub-Saharan Africa, the virus ranges over a broad area. Mass immunization to children five and under is crucial to the general strategy of stopping transmission.