War and conflict have a serious impact on children’s polio vaccination

On the occasion of World Polio Day on October 24, UNICEF said that in 2023, 85% of children affected by polio (commonly known as polio) live in 31 fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries. In the past five years, polio cases in these areas have more than doubled.

UNICEF pointed out that in the most unstable areas of life, where conflicts, natural disasters, humanitarian crises and other instability factors make it difficult to provide critical health care, polio, a life-threatening disease, continues to rage. In the past five years, routine child immunization rates in these areas have dropped from 75% to 70%, far below the 95% required for community immunity.

UNICEF said that 15 of the 21 countries affected by conflict, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, are currently fighting polio. In July this year, the first case of polio in 25 years was detected in Gaza, and subsequently, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, together with other partners, began to vaccinate local children with two rounds of polio.

In Sudan, where national child vaccination rates have plummeted from 85% before the conflict to 53% in 2023, and in conflict zones, rates have dropped to 30%. In response, UNICEF and its partners have conducted two emergency polio vaccination campaigns in recent months.

Polio Eradication Initiative

Polio is a highly contagious disease caused by the polio virus. It is mainly spread through contaminated food and water, mainly affecting children under the age of 5, but adults can also be infected. The polio virus attacks the human nervous system and in severe cases can cause permanent paralysis or even be life-threatening.

World Polio Day is a commemoration initiated by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to raise public awareness of polio prevention and eradication. The day also commemorates the contributions of Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine, who successfully developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1955.

In the first half of the 20th century, polio was a serious epidemic worldwide, causing paralysis and even death in many children. In 1955, American virologist Salk successfully developed an inactivated vaccine by injection, making large-scale prevention possible. Salk chose not to apply for a patent, a decision that allowed the vaccine to be promoted more quickly. Salk’s research not only led to the near-elimination of polio worldwide, but also laid the foundation for modern vaccinology.