Polio strategy includes technology and new vaccines

MANILA – The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is hoping to use new oral polio vaccines and adopt smartphone technologies over the next five years, as part of a new strategy unveiled Tuesday.

PATH and its partners are currently developing several new oral polio vaccines designed to eliminate the risk of vaccine-derived poliomyelitis. Two of them targeting the type 2 strain are in the more advanced stages of clinical trials and are currently undergoing safety tests. If they have proven effective, vaccines could be available by 2020 in small amounts, said Michel Zaffran, director of polio eradication at the World Health Organization. Health, at a press briefing on the new strategy.

Meanwhile, smartphone technologies such as e-Surve will contribute to disease surveillance and faster response. e-Surve is a mobile application for fast and efficient collection and badysis of surveillance data. It has been introduced by the WHO in several regions of Africa.

GPEI is also planning to establish a regional center in Amman, Jordan, allowing for easier coordination and increased technical support to polio vaccination programs in both endemic countries, Afghanistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan.

UNICEF and WHO are also establishing rapid response teams that can be immediately deployed to build capacity for polio outbreaks and outbreaks. The initiative also expands its partnership with development institutions, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is now part of the Polio Supervisory Board.

"There is currently a working group created to identify opportunities for GPEI to engage with Gavi. The program will also develop a common results and accountability framework with Gavi to help implement some of these strategies and more effective use of polio resources to support routine immunization, "said councilor Jalaa Abdelwahab. Chief Health Officer and Deputy Director of the UNICEF Global Polio Team.

These are just a few of the new approaches that GPEI will implement as part of its new strategy from 2019 to 2023. It fits in the wake of an effective strategy that has led to the Polio eradication in many parts of the world, including in South-East Asia. , which is now declared polio-free. Today, four out of five people in the world live in certified areas free of wild poliovirus, Zaffran said.

But this strategy also painfully recalls what the international community has failed to achieve in the last five years: the eradication of wild poliovirus, which remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Polio outbreaks have also been reported in countries such as Indonesia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is currently experiencing the worst epidemic of polio outbreaks. # 39; Ebola.

The hope is that this new strategy will be the last of GPEI and that the wild poliovirus will eventually be phased out by 2023.

But the last stages are known to be the most difficult. There is still resistance to the vaccine, for example in Pakistan, where insecurity and misinformation exacerbate the problem.

"The last mile has proven to be the most difficult phase of polio eradication. We still have to stop transmission in some of the hardest-hit areas of the world, "Zaffran said.

Zaffran and Abdelwahab admit that there is a threat of fatigue among front-line health workers, but efforts are being made to prevent this escalation. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, for example, an badessment is underway to identify strategies to reinvigorate teams and offer badistance – including security through national authorities – to ensure that they continue to implement the eradication initiative, said Abdelwahab.

Donor fatigue is another threat to polio eradication efforts. The new strategy is currently facing a funding gap of $ 3.27 billion.

"We do not think the $ 3.27 billion has been committed. We believe that we will not meet certain commitments, which is why we continue to seek new donors, bilateral and private donors, who can contribute to these efforts, "said Zaffran.

However, WHO's director of polio has indicated that some long-standing donors have confirmed their continued support for the work of the GPEI, such as Rotary International. Some bilateral donors to the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which Zaffran did not identify, also confirmed their support for the program, although the amount is not yet clear. But he hopes to have more clarity before the pledging conference to be held in November in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.