Gates urges polio eradication by 2018
UK: Microsoft founder Bill Gates said the battle to eradicate polio
was one of the toughest the world has faced, but said it could be
conquered by 2018.
Delivering the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture in London on Tuesday,
Gates, the United States' richest man, said ridding the world of polio
would be "one of the great moral and practical achievements of our age".
The 57-year-old businessman turned philanthropist, who is putting his
resources into the fight, said that though polio was still endemic in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, vaccination campaigns could eliminate
it within six years.
"We are working to wipe the virus off the face of the earth, and we
have almost succeeded: There are only three countries in the world where
the virus is still being transmitted. Fewer than 250 children were
paralysed last year," he said.
"Stopping these last cases of polio in these last countries, however,
is among the most difficult tasks the world has ever assigned itself.
"The fight to eradicate polio is a proving ground, a test. Its
outcome will reveal what human beings are capable of, and suggest how
ambitious we can be about our future." Polio -- which afflicts mainly
the under-fives causing death, paralysis and crippled limbs -- travels
easily across borders and is transmitted via the fecal matter of
victims.
Though vaccines are relatively cheap and easy to deliver, said Gates,
it is "stunning to me" that millions of children do not get them.
"The last mile is not only the hardest mile; it's also much harder
than I expected," he said. However, "I see strong commitment from
leaders in all three endemic countries," he added. "Polio doesn't kill
as many people as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or rotavirus. It's not
even close. So why should the world focus on eradicating it? "When polio
is gone, we can use the same systems, technology, and people to deliver
other lifesaving solutions, especially routine vaccinations for diseases
like diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia," he argued.
"The global polio community has a detailed plan for getting from here
to eradication.
"This plan says that if the world supplies the necessary funds,
political commitment, and resolve, we will certify the eradication of
polio by 2018.
"If the world delivers, then we will eradicate polio within six
years. "We should see it as one of the great moral and practical
achievements of our age."
AFP
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