La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y UNICEF aseguran que la erradicación de la poliomielitis en el planeta está cada vez más cerca y es probable que se consiga en el año 2005, especialmente tras la donación de 30 millones de dosis de la vacuna oral realizada por la compañía Aventis Pasteur.
En palabras de la Dra. Gro Harlem Brundtland, directora general de la OMS, esta donación "marca un nuevo hito en el esfuerzo mundial para erradicar la polio".
La vacuna se distribuirá principalmente en África, según señalaron representantes de UNICEF, quienes anunciaron que 3 millones de dosis ya están de camino hacia Liberia.
La campaña de erradicación de la enfermedad fue puesta en marcha por la OMS en 1988 en 166 países. La incidencia de la enfermedad se ha reducido desde entonces dramáticamente, cayendo de los 350.000 casos registrados en 1988 a sólo 480 el pasado año.
El número de países donde todavía existe la enfermedad ha pasado de 125 a tan sólo 10: Afganistán, Angola, Egipto, India, Níger, Nigeria, Pakistán, Somalia y Sudán.
Webs Relacionadas
OMS
http://www.who.int/
UNICEF
http://www.unicef.org/
Polio Eradication Initiative
http://www.polioeradication.org/
Aventis Pasteur
http://www.aventispasteur.com/
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