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STORY: GENEVA / POLIO HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS
TRT: 2:04
SOURCE: WHO /UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 5 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
5 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, presser
2. Close up, camera
3. SOUNDBITE (Enlgish) Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General:
“If the situation as of today and April 2014 went unchecked, it could result in failure to eradicate globally one of world’s most serious vaccine preventable diseases.”
FILE – UNICEF - 2-6 FEBRUARY 2014, MARABA, DAMASCUS, SYRIA
4. Various shots, volunteer vaccinators giving children oral polio vaccine and marking their nails
5 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
5. SOUNDBITE (Enlgish) Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General:
“The first is that the head of State, or at the level of head of State or government, the interruption of polio transmission should be officially declared a national public health emergency, if this has not already been done.”
FILE – UNICEF - 2-6 FEBRUARY 2014, MARABA, DAMASCUS, SYRIA
6. Med shot, vaccinator giving a girl in pink shirt oral polio vaccine
7. Med shot, vaccinator giving girl polio vaccine
5 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
8. SOUNDBITE (Enlgish) Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General:
“The second recommendation issued by the Director-General is that these countries ensure that all residents and long term visitors to these countries, receive a dose of the oral polio vaccine or the inactivated polio vaccine, between four weeks and twelve months prior to international travel. The third recommendation is that these countries ensure that those travellers undertaking urgent travel, that would be in less than four weeks, and have not received a dose of OPV or IPV, should receive a dose of polio vaccine at least by time of departure and this will still provide some benefit, particularly for frequent travellers.”
FILE – WHO - JUNE 2007, PAKISTAN
9. Med shot, vaccinator giving a baby girl oral polio vaccine
10. Med shot, vaccinator giving a child oral polio vaccine
5 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. SOUNDBITE (Enlgish) Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General:
“There has been 74 cases of polio due to wild polio virus so far this year, 59 of those cases have been reported from Pakistan.”
FILE – WHO - JUNE 2007, PAKISTAN
12. Med shot, vaccinator giving a girl oral polio vaccine
13. Wide shot, father holding a girl walking to the vaccination center
14. Close up, child receiving oral polio vaccine
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared today (5 May) the international spread of wild poliovirus in 2014 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
WHO said that the international spread of polio to date in 2014 constitutes an extraordinary event and a public health risk to other States for which a coordinated international response is essential.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said “if the situation as of today and April 2014 went unchecked, it could result in failure to eradicate globally one of world’s most serious vaccine preventable diseases.”
According WHO, Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria pose the greatest risk of exporting the virus to other countries and should ensure that all residents and long-term visitors should be vaccinated before traveling and provided with a proof of vaccination.
Aylward noted that the UN Agency issued several temporary recommendations.
He also said “the first is that the head of State, or at the level of head of State or government, the interruption of polio transmission should be officially declared a national public health emergency, if this has not already been done.”
He added “the second recommendation issued by the Director-General is that these countries ensure that all residents and long term visitors to these countries, receive a dose of the oral polio vaccine or the inactivated polio vaccine, between four weeks and twelve months prior to international travel. The third recommendation is that these countries ensure that those travellers undertaking urgent travel, that would be in less than four weeks, and have not received a dose of OPV or IPV, should receive a dose of polio vaccine at least by time of departure and this will still provide some benefit, particularly for frequent travellers.”
Aylward underlined “there has been 74 cases of polio due to wild polio virus so far this year, 59 of those cases have been reported from Pakistan. By contrast, no other country this year has reported more than four cases and the only country with four was Afghanistan. Cameroon and Syria have reported three cases and one case respectively, and both of those countries their last reported case so far was in January of this year.”
At end-2013, 60 percent of polio cases were the result of international spread of wild poliovirus, and there was increasing evidence that adult travellers contributed to this spread. During the 2014 low transmission season there has already been international spread of wild poliovirus from 3 of the 10 States that are currently infected: in central Asia (from Pakistan to Afghanistan), in the Middle East (Syrian Arab Republic to Iraq) and in Central Africa (Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea).
The affected States Parties are Afghanistan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic.
Polio usually strikes children under the age of five. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestines attacking the nervous system, potentially causing total paralysis in a matter of hours.
Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis and among those paralyzed, five to 10 per cent die when their breathing muscles become immobilized, according to UN figures.
Noting the rising trend of infections in parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the UN and its partners re-launched massive vaccination campaigns last month in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, aiming to reach 22 million children.
