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MASS GLOBAL ACTION is required to stem an outbreak of polio in the Middle East, aid agencies WHO and UNICEF have warned.
Eight months after the outbreak, the agencies are reporting progress in their polio vaccination programme in Syria, but say that health workers need better – and safer – access to hard-to-reach areas if they are to adequately tackle the disease.
Two months ago, WHO’s Director General declared the spread of polio a public health emergency of international concern – the second time ever such a declaration has been issued.
In a new report, WHO and UNICEF outline their plan to halt the outbreak in the Middle East, particularly Syria. Polio has returned to Syria for the first time in 14 years, caused, the report authors say, by the impact of the ongoing conflict on the country’s health system and population movements.
The country’s first case of polio since 1999 was diagnosed in October 2013.
Since the conflict, polio vaccination coverage has declined in Syria from an average of 99% to just 52%, and cases of polio have spread over its borders into neighbouring countries.
“Polio has forced its way back to Syria, adding to what was already a humanitarian disaster,” said Chris Maher, WHO manager for polio eradication and emergency support.
We got to a point where we had to work with very limited resources to defeat what had been a long forgotten enemy in this region: one that does not know borders or checkpoints and can travel fast, infecting children not just in war torn Syria but across the region.
The first phase of the WHO/UNICEF vaccination programme has just been completed, reaching 25 million children under the age of five across seven countries, but the agencies say they need to secure funding to continue repeat vaccinations in the region this year.
Yesterday, the UNSC approved a resolution to allow UN agencies provide aid to Syrians inside their state’s borders, whether President Assad’s government agrees to allow the assistance or not.
U.S. Embassy Syria / Twitter#UNSC #Syria resolution will allow @UN to side-step regime obstruction and move across international borders to provide food and medicine.
— U.S. Embassy Syria (@USEmbassySyria) July 14, 2014
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It’s very sad that the 100000 + civilians dead in Syria don’t get the same social anger as gaza does.
The left don’t care about Palestinians or Syrians, they only have blind hatred for Israel and America. There will be no calls for action here as the deaths if Muslims at the hand of of other Muslims does not matter.
@ john – 16 comments say it all. Same on a recent Iraq article. Israel us not involved so the left doesn’t care
There is a stark difference between the two. Firstly, the Syrian conflict is internal (no less brutal) and has been ongoing for months now, it is inevitable that views and comments reduce over time, if you go back to articles at the beginning of the conflict, when it was only a few weeks, such as Gaza is now, there would have been similar numbers of view and comments, in fact, I remember just as many robust debates around then on The Journal. Here’s an article from as recent as the 21st of June, just over a month ago, relating to ISIS and Syria and it had over 12,000 views and 170 comments http://www.thejournal.ie/british-student-in-isis-iraq-video-1530015-Jun2014/.
Claiming that everyone who is outraged over Gaza is merely anti-Israel and doesn’t give a damn about the Palestinians is disingenuous, I have also seen a lot of ‘new’ commentators on The Journal over the last few weeks who were never to be seen before, some on this article itself, so to put the shoe on the other foot, where was their outrage on previous articles to do with Iraq and Syria? It seems they’re only interested in defending the current slaughter in Gaza.
Where are all the anti-Israel people screaming for boycotts and ambassador expulsions?The like s of werejammin and the rest of the IPSC mob that seem to appear miraculously when an article about Israel appears?Oh yeah that’s right I forgot Syria is not a hipster leftist cause.
I dare day that if Syria opens up an embassy in Ireland and sends over an Ambassador then we can all meet him at the airport and tell him to go home. Of course you probably already knew that there is no Syrian embassy in Ireland but that wouldn’t have allowed you to go off on your little rant now would it?
Kudos to you Brian,at least you bothered.The silence is always deafening from the IPSC mob when it’s Arab killing other Arabs,or different sects of Muslims killing it each other.
I commend you for your efforts.
I would welcome a Syrian ambassador here with open arms, as you well know Scipio I’m a very vocal supporter of Assad and the Syrian Army and people, this crisis and death toll has to be laid solely on the Z!onists hands, every single death. As much as I want justice for the Palestinians I want it for the Syrians as well.
Ok, so no ambassador but why no march or protest to the Dail or call on DFA in solidarity with the death of hundreds of thousands if Muslims at the hands of other Muslims? Israeli hatred is much more strong than the care you have for Arabs – actions speak louder than words and on Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, where we do have an ambassador, the irish left is silent.
I Obama and Saudi Arabia stopped funding Jihad militants in the country perhaps it could get back on its feet again.
I think the Americans armed the Syrian free army not the arsehole Islamic f@#ks.
ouch a red thumb on a fact!!!!
The Free Syrian Army is just a rag tag bunch of groups that fight supposedly under the same banner but with no central co-ordination like a proper army. The US are giving them $500 million to fund “moderate” rebels even though 1000 rebel troops joined ISIS a couple of weeks ago.
Is there really much of a difference. Here is Jamal Maarouf, the leader of the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF). The rebel leader touted as the West’s last hope to stem the tide of extreme jihadist groups in Syria has said he will not fight against al-Qa’ida, and openly admits to battling alongside them.
The problem with trying to vaccinate against this disease is that the Muslim world doesn’t trust vaccination programs ever since the CIA used it as a front for spying in the AFPAC region.
‘ the Muslim world doesn’t trust vaccination programs ever since the CIA used it as a front for spying in the AFPAC region.’ That’s a myth perpetrated by the Taleban.Countries like Syria and Iraq have had widespread vaccination programs in the past.But maybe your right.Maybe the ‘Muslim world’ should come with it’s own solutions to disease,rather then relying on decadent western medicine.
A myth is it?
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-21/the-cia-stops-fake-vaccinations-as-real-polio-rebounds
“The White House confirmed this week that the Central Intelligence Agency will no longer use vaccination campaigns in its operations, reviving the debate over a surprise comeback of the polio virus. ”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cia-drops-vaccination-cover-stories-in-wake-of-polio-outbreak-1.2647618
“Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, wrote to the deans of 13 public health schools last week, saying that the CIA has agreed it would no longer use vaccination programs or workers for intelligence purposes. The agency also agreed to not use genetic materials obtained through such programs.”
The myth is that the ‘Muslim World’ as you put it, does not trust vaccination programs.It’s purely the Taleban who are preventing them in certain areas.NGOs have always being used by spying agencies as cover,nothing new about that.Pakistan’s very own ISI uses NGO’s as cover for it;s overseas activities.So the ‘Muslim World’ itself engages in this type of activity.
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