Global Polio Day is observed annually on October 24 to raise awareness of the value of the polio vaccine and protect all children from this horrible disease.
Many local, national, and worldwide healthcare organizations get together on this day to promote awareness about the importance of vaccinating children in order to eradicate polio.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), Rotary International, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) are among these organizations.
History of World Polio Day
World Polio Day was established by Rotary International as a way to honor Jonas Salk for his leadership of the first team to develop a polio vaccine.
In 1955, he was able to successfully develop the inactive poliovirus vaccine. Albert Sabin created the oral polio vaccine in 1962. The World Health Assembly made a commitment to eradicate the poliovirus in 1988, after it had affected about 350,000 people globally.
October 24 is designated as World Polio Day globally. In the WHO's European zone, polio was declared eliminated in 2002.
Importance of World Polio Day
- On October 24, the world observes World Polio Day to raise awareness of the significance of polio immunization for children throughout the globe.
- The Gates Foundation, UNICEF, Rotary International, WHO, and the CDC collaborate to spread the word about the importance of polio vaccination for children.
- Children under five are susceptible to contracting polio, a highly contagious illness that can spread through contaminated food, drink, or the fecal-oral route.
- The virus causes paralysis by attacking the intestines first and then the nerve system.
- The rare but occasionally occurring vaccine-associated paralytic poliovirus (VAPP) has been connected to the deterioration of the oral poliovirus vaccination.
- In the past 35 years, cases of wild poliovirus have dropped by nearly 99%, with the bulk of new strain cases occurring in a small number of places.
- The poliovirus poses a serious risk to children all around the world and has the capacity to inflict profound brain damage.
- The principal goals of World Polio Day encompass guaranteeing universal protection against polio, augmenting the quantity of youngsters immunized against polio, promptly detecting the virus via quality monitoring, and managing pandemics.
What is this disease Polio?
“A highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children” is how the World Health Organisation describes polio or poliomyelitis. It is a neurological disorder that can be fatal and extremely debilitating. The poliovirus is the cause of polio, an illness that can be fatal and cause disability.
- Transmission: The virus is mostly disseminated by the fecal-oral route, which is contaminated water or food. It is conveyed from person to person. After the virus grows in the colon, it enters the nerve system and has the potential to paralyze people.
- Symptoms: Not everyone who contracts the virus becomes ill. Minor symptoms include fever, exhaustion, nausea, headaches, sore throats, nasal congestion, coughing, back and neck stiffness, and arm and limb discomfort in certain individuals. In very few cases, the virus causes permanent loss of muscle function (paralysis). It can potentially prove to be lethal in the event of a brain infection or paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
- Vaccines: Immunization is the only treatment available; illness has no known cure. Children are protected by the polio vaccination because it primes their bodies to fend against the poliovirus. There are two vaccination kinds that can protect against polio:
Depending on the patient's age, an injection of the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) is administered in the arm or leg. Under the Universal Immunization Programme, it is administered as a supplementary dosage in addition to the third DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus) dose (UIP).
The oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) is administered at birth, followed by three primary doses at six, ten, and fourteen weeks and one booster dose at 16-24 months of age.
Polio in India
- The nation's final instance of wild poliovirus was discovered on January 13, 2011. As a result, the WHO certified India to be polio-free in 2014. The effective pulse polio campaign, which gave polio drops to every kid, is responsible for this accomplishment.
- Since March 2014, the government of India has enforced the Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) requirement for travelers from polio-affected countries, including Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, and Cameroon. This is done to prevent the virus from entering the country.
Recent Outbreaks Of Polio
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two remaining nations where the wild poliovirus is believed to be present, according to the CDC. There has been an upsurge in wild poliovirus infections in Pakistan in 2020.
2019 saw reports of polio outbreaks in Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ghana, Myanmar, China, Cameroon, Philippines, and Malaysia. The majority of the documented cases were vaccine-derived, meaning that a rare strain of the virus underwent genetic mutations distinct from those found in the vaccination.
Polio Eradication Programmes
"If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism." - Jenny McCarthy
A disease is considered eradicated when there are no more new cases recorded. This implies that there must be no further incidences of polio infection, either from the wild or from vaccinations. A nation is only deemed polio-free after all three types of polioviruses have ceased to spread in the wild.
This is upheld by ongoing, excellent polio surveillance in addition to national and subnational polio rounds. By taking ongoing steps to stop the spread of illness, the goal can be accomplished.
Conclusion
October 24th is celebrated annually as World Polio Day in a bid to create awareness on the ongoing campaign to eradicate poliomyelitis, a potentially deadly disease that is caused by the poliovirus.
The WHO launched the campaign to combat it in 1988, and as of 2002, the WHO European Region has been polio-free.
To ensure that there will be no more polio cases, high coverage in immunization should be achieved, surveillance should be enhanced, and strategies for managing outbreaks should be followed.
The day celebrates the success achieved by workers, volunteers and parents towards the fight against polio disease.