Last Updated on 22 October 2024 IST | World Polio Day 2024: Poliovirus has haunted humanity long before its first clinical documentation in 1789. Despite scientific advancements and the development of a polio vaccine, the threat of polio reintroduction persists in certain parts of the world. What is preventing scientific leaders from eradicating polio once and for all? On this World Polio Day, we reflect on the history, importance, ongoing challenges of this global fight, and the possible cure even science is not aware of.
World Polio Day 2024: Highlights
- World Polio Day 2024 will be observed on 24th October globally.
- India has been polio-free for the last whole decade
- Global leaders committed USD 2.6 billion towards the 2022-2026 Strategy of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). (Source: GPEI)
Image Title: Budget Graph by Objective and Organization
(Note: The Objectives read as follows:
(i) Poliovirus detection and interruption
(ii) Immunisation systems strengthening and oral polio vaccine withdrawal
(iii) Containment and certification
(iv) Outbreak – Emergency Operations
(v) Other Contingency and Indirect Costs)
Image Source: GPEI
- The pledging ceremony was held in Berlin, Germany, as part of the World Health Summit on 18th October 2022.
- Pakistan and Afghanistan are two countries where wild poliovirus is still categorised as an endemic.
- The efforts under GPEI are aimed to eradicate polio from these two countries and other reintroductions worldwide.
- Aside from the two Asian countries, an outbreak of the wild poliovirus (WPV) was reported in south-east Africa in 2022.
- The drastic geopolitical changes have posed a challenge to GPEI outreaches.
- Several cases of polio transmission from 2021 to 2023 in conflict-ridden places like Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan, are stark reminders of the existence of polio.
- Geopolitical instability forced GPEI to reassess the timelines of its 2022-2024 Strategy, thereby extending the timelines to 2027 for the eradication of WPV and 2029 for the eradication of type 2 variant poliovirus. (Source: GPEI)
- Despite the vast budgets and extensive efforts, polio continues to pose a continuous threat to humanity.
- Why haven’t we been able to eradicate polio until now and why is it that it can reintroduce itself anytime?
World Polio Day Significance
World Polio Day 2024: World Polio Day is observed each year on October 24 to spread awareness about polio vaccination and the importance of administering it to every child. It also shines a spotlight on global efforts to eliminate polio and honours the relentless dedication of frontline healthcare workers fighting this battle. World Polio Day was originally established by Rotary International with the aim of eradicating polio worldwide.
Image Title: A Polio Awareness Campaign Organised By WHO in Somalia
Image Credit: WHO Somalia / Ismail Taxta
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), It can leave 1 in 200 infected individuals permanently disabled. Hence, the eradication of polio is one of the most urgent global health goals, making World Polio Day a critical platform to raise awareness and renew the fight against polio.
World Polio Day 2024 Date
World Polio Day is observed on October 24 every year to highlight global efforts towards a polio-free world and honor the frontline healthcare workers for their efforts to eradicate polio from all parts of the globe.
World Polio Day Theme 2024
World Polio Day 2024: There has been no official declaration of any theme for World Polio Day 2024 as yet. However, Rotary International, the founding organisation of World Polio Day, has been using the hashtag #EndPolio in their tweets when speaking about World Polio Day 2024. This has led some sections to believe that the 2024 theme is ‘#EndPolio’.
World Polio Day: A Brief Timeline
- World Polio Day was founded by the organisation Rotary International in 2002.
- The date chosen commemorates the birthday of Jonas Salk, the developer of the first successful polio vaccine.
Image Title: Jonas Salk administering the polio vaccine to a child participating in vaccine trials, circa 1954
Image Source: Wikimedia
- Jonas Salk, American virologist and biomedical scientist, developed the Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine in 1955. This research was funded by the March of Dimes organisation.
Image Title: A print Ad of March of Dimes, circa 1955
Image Source: Wikimedia
- Subsequent studies led Albert Sabin, a Polish-American medical researcher, to develop the oral polio vaccine, a few years down the line in 1962.
- The European Region of the WHO was declared as polio-free in 2002. Thereafter, 24th October is observed as World Polio Day each year.
- The continued threat of the deadly poliovirus led to the formation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)
The GPEI was established in 1988 when the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate polio worldwide forever.
Image Title: World Health Assembly, 1988
Image Source: GPEI
World Polio Day 2024: The GPEI is a public-private partnership spearheaded by 6 national governments in partnership with 6 international organisations, as follows:
- World Health Organization (WHO): The WHO is responsible for strategic planning, administration and implementation of the GPEI. It takes the lead role in this private partnership.
- Rotary International: The RI recruits volunteers and is responsible for advocacy and fundraising of the GPEI. It is the largest organisation in the world that focuses on humanitarian services. It is also the world’s first such organisation.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): The CDC is the technical and scientific expertise wing of the GPEI. It has a dedicated Picornavirus Laboratory, Global Immunisation Division (GID) and multiple Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) teams, that collaboratively provide technical and scientific support to the GPEI.
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): The primary duty of UNICEF is to procure and distribute polio vaccines. It also supplements immunisation. Together with the WHO, it provides support to countries to implement various campaigns such as National Immunisation Days (NIDs) and Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs).
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The BMGF is the financial wing of GPEI. Aside from financial resources, it also contributes technical resources, accelerating targeted vaccination campaigns, routine immunisation and community mobilisation. It also undertakes a unique risk-taking responsibility and makes non-traditional investments.
- Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: It is a public-private partnership that specifically lends support to lower income countries, and overseas vaccination in these countries. It aims to bridge the vaccination gap in such countries.
Challenges for the GPEI
World Polio Day 2024: The continued efforts have led to reduction in poliovirus cases worldwide. However, eradication of polio is far from reality even today.
- Polio continues to remain endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, the number of cases has reduced drastically to just a few.
Image Title: WPV1 situation in 2021, 2022 and 2023 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Image Source: GPEI Annual Report 2023
(https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/379270/9789240099203-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
- Additionally, geopolitical instability is another derailment to the eradication of polio worldwide.
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine made it difficult to continue vaccination drives, resulting in a polio endemic in Ukraine. The endemic was successfully lessened in 2023.
- Similarly, the Israel-Palestinian conflict caused the number of poliovirus cases to soar in the Gaza strip as the accessibility of medical aid was restricted.
- The WHO completed the first phase of polio vaccination in Gaza in September 2024. The 2nd phase kick-started in October 2024.
- Several cases of cVDPVs were also detected in northern Yemen and south-central Somalia.
- The African continent also remains a big challenge to the GPEI efforts. There have been several emergency outbreaks of cVDPV (circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus Type 2) cases in recent years, especially in north-western Nigeria and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Image Title: Overview of cVDPV cases in Africa in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Image Source: GPEI Annual Report 2023 (https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/379270/9789240099203-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
- However, poliovirus cases were not just found in the economically weaker sections of the world.
- There were several high-profile detections of various strains and types of poliovirus in countries like the USA, Canada, UK and Israel.
- The re-emergence of polio virus cases in the first world countries is a stark reminder of the existence of poliovirus and its potential to spread globally.
World Polio Day Activities
World Polio Day 2024: World Polio Day is seen as a significant platform to spread awareness about the scathing nature of polio and the ways to prevent its onset. The GPEI and its founding partners work towards various events that aim to educate masses about poliovirus and raise funds for various initiatives, including vaccination drives.
World Polio Day 2024 Events
- Rotary International has invited people to register and organise an event in your nearby places.
- The broadcast on October 24th, 2024, 5 PM EDT, of the Global World Polio Day will be hosted by Rotary International and streamed live from Pittsburgh, USA.
- Rotary has invited all those having amateur radio licence for a special event which allows them to talk to any other amateur across the globe. Their plan is to operate a few days before and after World Polio Day, and discuss the importance of World Polio Day, globally.
- On 24th October 2024, 10 AM EST, a webinar organised by Pan American Health Organisation, will take place. It will mark 30 more free years of Wild Polio in Americans.
World Polio Day in India
World Polio Day 2024: On 27th March, 2014, India was declared wild polio-free officially.
Image Title: ‘The last case of poliovirus is reported in India’
Image Source: GPEI
The observance of World Polio Day in India also aims to highlight the efforts of some of the renowned healthcare workers who helped in achieving the milestone, namely Dr. Mathew Varghese and Senior Prosthetist and Orthotist Sandeep Tyagi.
World Polio Day Quotes
- “There is a solution to every problem”
- “True Devotion to God Kabir can cure any life-threatening disease.”
- “One Day One Focus: Ending Polio”
- “Stop Polio, Vaccinate”
Polio: A Brief Understanding
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a deadly virus that causes disability by invading the brain and spinal cord of affected individuals. This results in paralysis of those areas.
Poliovirus affects only humans and spreads easily from person-to-person, particularly children. This deadly virus has no cure if it affects an individual, however, its spread to other individuals can be controlled by administering the poliovirus vaccine.
Symptoms of Polio (Poliomyelitis)
The most dangerous aspect of polio is that the majority of affected individuals rarely experience any symptoms, thereby resulting in no early detection.
The categorised symptoms of polio are headache, fever,vomiting, fatigue, pain in the limbs and stiffness in the neck. These symptoms can last anywhere between 2 to 20 days. Sometimes a severe symptom can be observed directly in the form of paralysis of lower limbs.
The incubation period of poliovirus is 7 to 10 days. It can also stretch to almost 35 days. Children are highly vulnerable to the virus if not vaccinated.
Image Title: ‘Children show their marked fingers after receiving a dose of polio vaccine during sub-national immunisation days (SNID) in August 2021 in Lahore, Pakistan. WHO Syed Mehdi Bokhari’
Image Credit: WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region / Syed Mehdi
The virus enters through the mouth and stays in the intestine of the patient. It grows steadily thereon, affecting the brain and the spinal cord. The primary target of this virus is the nervous system of the affected individuals.
Treatment of Polio
- There is no cure of polio. Physiotherapy and antispasmodic drugs can help lessen the severity of its impact. However, polio-induced paralysis cannot be cured.
- The polio vaccination protects an individual from poliovirus, if not infected. Therefore, polio vaccination drives target children to prevent them from contacting the virus.
Polio’s Cure Lies Beyond Science
Man has been able to reach the moon through scientific and technological advancements. However, we still have no cure for polio. Science is like a double-edged sword – offers great promises but rarely delivers a complete solution. Humanity’s fight against polio is a stark reminder of our unending battles on Earth.
There is a famed proverb that goes like ‘There is a solution for every problem’. The solution to deadly diseases like polio is the True Worship of Supreme God Kabir, under the refuge of a Tatvdarshi Sant (Complete Saint).
While science purists may laugh off the case, the continued failure of science in finding the cure for polio and instead, simply focusing on suppressing the disease is a smack in the face to such purists.
There is no doctor above the unmatched powers of God Kabir, and there is no cure that can match up to the benefits of His authentic worship. Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj is the sole custodian of God Kabir’s right way of worship in today’s world. His innumerable disciples and their victory against deadly diseases like polio, cancer and even blindness, poses an important question to humanity – Does science lead man away from God?
Discover the unassailable solution to all incurable diseases by listening to the sacred discourses of Jagatguru Tatvdarshi Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj on the YouTube Channel ‘Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj’.
FAQs about World Polio Day
Ans:- World Polio Day is celebrated on 24 October every year.
Ans:- There is no official theme announced yet.
Ans:- Several patients do not experience any patients during the incubation period of polio. The classified symptoms, however, are headache, vomiting, fever, pain in limbs and stiffness of neck.
Ans:- Polio is caused by the poliovirus.
Ans:- Jonas Salk developed the poliovirus vaccine first.
Ans:- The establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) took place in 1988.
