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06/07/2005
Government announces funding for polio eradication
International Development Secretary Hilary Benn has announced a multi-million pound funding package aimed at wiping out polio by early next year.
The UK’s £60 million three-year package would provide £20 million towards eradicating the disease, including investment in laboratories to ensure the correct vaccine is available for different strains of the virus and putting systems in place to identify new cases and provide help as soon as possible.
A further £40 million would contribute towards vaccinations for over 500 million children to prevent polio breaking out again and training staff to carry out the immunisation programme.
Polio, a highly infectious disease caused by a virus, which invades the nervous system, was eradicated in the UK in 1982. However, there are 12 countries where there are still cases of the disease, including Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Polio mainly affects children under five and is most prevalent in Africa. Ninety per cent of the 1,255 cases identified in 2004 were in the region.
The symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. Five to 10 per cent of those who become paralysed die when their breathing muscles become immobilised. The disease cannot be cured, only prevented through doses of the polio vaccine.
Announcing the funding, Hilary Benn said: “The international community’s fight against polio is one of the real success stories in the global campaign to combat poverty. In 1988, the World Health Assembly announced the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) – a worldwide programme of action to fight the disease. Seventeen years ago, there were 350,000 cases reported. Last year, there were 1,255 cases – a fall of over 99%. The funding I have announced will, together with other contributions already made, fulfil a long standing G8 pledge to fully fund the final effort to eradicate the disease.”
Mr Benn added: “But we cannot stop here. Ensuring polio never breaks out again will cost over £400 million between 2006 and 2008. That’s why I have also announced that we will contribute £40 million to this post-eradication effort. I call on others to do the same.”
(KMcA/GB)
The UK’s £60 million three-year package would provide £20 million towards eradicating the disease, including investment in laboratories to ensure the correct vaccine is available for different strains of the virus and putting systems in place to identify new cases and provide help as soon as possible.
A further £40 million would contribute towards vaccinations for over 500 million children to prevent polio breaking out again and training staff to carry out the immunisation programme.
Polio, a highly infectious disease caused by a virus, which invades the nervous system, was eradicated in the UK in 1982. However, there are 12 countries where there are still cases of the disease, including Nigeria, Indonesia, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Polio mainly affects children under five and is most prevalent in Africa. Ninety per cent of the 1,255 cases identified in 2004 were in the region.
The symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting and stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. Five to 10 per cent of those who become paralysed die when their breathing muscles become immobilised. The disease cannot be cured, only prevented through doses of the polio vaccine.
Announcing the funding, Hilary Benn said: “The international community’s fight against polio is one of the real success stories in the global campaign to combat poverty. In 1988, the World Health Assembly announced the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) – a worldwide programme of action to fight the disease. Seventeen years ago, there were 350,000 cases reported. Last year, there were 1,255 cases – a fall of over 99%. The funding I have announced will, together with other contributions already made, fulfil a long standing G8 pledge to fully fund the final effort to eradicate the disease.”
Mr Benn added: “But we cannot stop here. Ensuring polio never breaks out again will cost over £400 million between 2006 and 2008. That’s why I have also announced that we will contribute £40 million to this post-eradication effort. I call on others to do the same.”
(KMcA/GB)
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Hundreds of thousands of health workers began an immunisation campaign today aimed at reaching every child in five West African countries within three days to stop a growing threat of polio, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
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New 5-in-1 infant vaccination jab unveiled
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New 5-in-1 infant vaccination jab unveiled
The government has announced plans for a new five-in-one combined vaccination for babies and children. The new single jab will protect children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib), and polio. The new vaccine replaces the separate vaccines already administered to babies.
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