Project profile — Support to the Polio Eradication Endgame Strategic Plan

• Africa, regional (40.00%)
• America, regional (10.00%)
• Asia, regional (40.00%)
• Europe, regional (10.00%)

• Basic Health: Infectious disease control (12250) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (principal objective)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project supports the implementation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)’s Endgame Strategic Plan, which provides a global roadmap to eradicate polio by 2019. Project activities include: (1) working with targeted governments to strengthen oral polio vaccine campaign safety and quality and introduce inactivated polio vaccine into routine immunization systems; (2) providing technical assistance to front-line workers to increase immunization coverage; and (3) working with governments to transition polio assets and infrastructure to broader health goals and national health systems. The GPEI is a partnership between UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This project contributes to Canada’s $250 million commitment to polio eradication made at the 2013 Abu Dhabi Global Vaccine Summit.

The expected outcomes as per the GPEI Strategic Plan include: (1) interruption of wild poliovirus transmission globally and more rapid detection and interruption of any new outbreaks due to vaccine-derived polioviruses; (2) strengthen immunization services in focus countries, introduce inactive polio vaccine (IPV) and withdraw oral polio vaccine type 2 (OPV2) globally; (3) certify the eradication and containment of all wild polioviruses and enhance long-term global security from poliomyelitis; and (4) a plan to ensure polio investments contribute to future health goals, through documentation and transition of lessons learned, processes and assets of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Progress achieved as of December 2017: Global caseload: 99% reduction of newcases, from 350 000 new cases per year in over 125 endemic countries when the program began, down to 22 reported cases in the final three endemic countries (in 2015 there were 74 cases), bringing the world closer than ever to achieving eradication. Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2, and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and no case of wild poliovirus type 3 has been found since the last reported case in Nigeria in November 2012.The withdrawal of trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) and introduction of bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) in 155 countries – the largest globally coordinated vaccine intervention in history. In 1994, the WHO Region of the Americas was certified polio-free, followed by the WHO Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the WHO European Region in June 2002. In March 2014, the WHO South-East Asia Region was certified polio-free, meaning that transmission of wild poliovirus has been interrupted in this bloc of 11 countries stretching from Indonesia to India. This achievement marks a significant leap forward in global eradication, with 80% of the world’s population now living in certified polio-free regions. More than 16 million people are able to walk today, who would otherwise have been paralysed. An estimated 1.5 million childhood deaths have been prevented, through the systematic administration of vitamin A during polio immunization activities.

• Proactive disclosure