polio crusade

Slide 1: 

Online Polio Awareness Campaign A Rotaract Club of Calcutta Initiative

What is Polio?: 

What is Polio? A crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease, polio (poliomyelitis) still strikes children mainly under the age of five in countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Polio can cause paralysis and sometimes death.  Because there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention. For as little as US$0.60 worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. It can cause paralysis within hours, and polio paralysis is almost always irreversible. In the most severe cases, polio attacks the motor neurons of the brain stem, causing breathing difficulty or even death.

Transmission of Polio: 

Transmission of Polio Polio is spread through person-to-person contact. When a child is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the environment through the faeces where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in situations of poor hygiene and sanitation. If a sufficient number of children are fully immunized against polio, the virus is unable to find susceptible children to infect, and dies out.

Transmission of Polio: 

Transmission of Polio Young children who are not yet toilet-trained are a ready source of transmission, regardless of their environment. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by faeces. There is also evidence that flies can passively transfer poliovirus from faeces to food . Most people infected with the poliovirus have no signs of illness and are never aware they have been infected. These symptomless people carry the virus in their intestines and can “silently” spread the infection to thousands of others before the first case of polio paralysis emerges.

The Threat: 

The Threat If polio isn’t eradicated, the world will continue to live under the threat of the disease. More than 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years if the world fails to capitalize on its US$5 billion global investment in eradication

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission:: 

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission : Routine immunization High infant-immunization coverage with four doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) in the first year of life is critical. Routine immunization is essential because it’s the primary way that polio-free countries protect their children from the threat of imported polio .

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission:: 

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission: National Immunization Days For decades, Rotary’s PolioPlus program has been one of the driving forces during National Immunization Days, or NIDs. Rotarians are involved in myriad ways before, during, and after an NID, by providing funds for millions of drops of vaccine, promoting upcoming campaigns in the community, distributing vaccine to local health centers , serving as monitors, working with local officials to reach every child, and participating in surveillance efforts.

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission:: 

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission: Surveillance Rotarians play an important role in working with health workers, pediatricians , and others to find, report, and investigate cases of acute flaccid paralysis in timely manner (ideally within 48 hours of onset). PolioPlus sometimes helps fund containers that preserve the integrity of stool samples during transport to laboratories. The program has also played a leading role in providing equipment for the global poliovirus laboratory.

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission:: 

Four key strategies for stopping poliovirus transmission: Targeted mop-up campaigns Rotary’s support of mop-up campaigns is similar to NID volunteering, but on a smaller, often “house-to-house ,” scale.

“We are this close to ending polio”: 

“We are this close to ending polio”

Current Polio Landscape : 

Current Polio Landscape Despite progress since 1988, polio has remained endemic in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan, and in 2010, cases were reported in a total of 20 countries. Globally, polio transmission persists in fewer than 170 districts, down from 415 at the end of 2009. However, indigenous poliovirus from endemic countries has re-infected polio-free parts of other countries.

United against polio: 

United against polio

“If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will eradicate polio.” - Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation : 

“If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will eradicate polio.” - Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation