This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Development Report.
In nineteen-eighty-eight, world health leaders started a campaignto end the disease polio around the world. The World HealthOrganization, the United Nations Children’s organization, the UnitedStates Centers for Disease Control and the group RotaryInternational organized the campaign. It is called the Global PolioEradication Initiative.
In nineteen-eighty-eight, officials estimatedthree-hundred-fifty-thousand children around the world had polio.Recently, the W-H-O reported only five-hundred-thirty-seven newcases of polio in ten countries last year. This is the lowest rateof polio in history. It is also a sign that the campaign to end thedisease has been almost a complete success.
Polio is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It can affectpeople at any age. But polio usually affects children under agethree. The virus enters through the mouth and then grows inside thethroat and intestines. Signs of polio include a high bodytemperature, stomach sickness, and pain in the head and neck.
Once the poliovirus becomes established in the intestines, it canspread to the blood and nervous system. As a result, victims ofpolio often become unable to move their bodies. This paralysis isalmost always permanent. In very serious cases, the paralysis canlead to death because victims are not able to breathe.
There is no cure for polio, so the best treatment is prevention.A few drops of a powerful vaccine medicine will protect a child forlife. The vaccine must be given over several years to be fullyeffective. Last year, international health groups gave the vaccineto more than five-hundred-seventy-five-million children inninety-four countries. That vaccine effort is continuing.
The W-H-O wants to stop the spread of polio by the end of thisyear. The countries with the highest rates of polio are India,Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Niger. Countries with lower ratesof polio are Angola, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Egypt. However,efforts to finally end the disease are being threatened by conflictsin several parts of the world. In Angola, for example, civil war hasprevented vaccine medicine from reaching children.
If the campaign succeeds, polio would become the second diseasein history to be ended by a medical campaign. The first disease thatwas ended around world was smallpox.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.