Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children under 5 years old and can cause paralysis or death. While polio cases have been reduced by 99% since 1988 due to global vaccination efforts, it remains a risk in undervaccinated communities. The presentation focuses on polio's impact in Ghana, where a 1974 study found the annual polio incidence in children was over twice as high as in the pre-vaccine US, and polio caused disability in over 60% of lame children examined. Continued vaccination efforts aim to eradicate polio worldwide by 2026.

1. PRESENTATION ON CURRENT
NATIONAL CHALLENGES-
POLIOMYELITIS
GROUP 3

2. TOPIC: POLIOMYELITIS IN CHILDREN
• The focal point of this presentation is on poliomyelitis
• Its impact on the society, management and possible solutions.

3. ABSTRACT
• This presentation focuses on the polio and how the number of cases
is about 1%.
• Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus.
• It primarily affects children under the age of 5 and can lead to
permanent paralysis and even death, however, anyone of any age
who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.
• Outbreaks of polio are more likely to occur in communities where
there are unimmunized children and coupled with poor sanitary and
hygiene environments. WHO(2022).

4. INTRODUCTION
• In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the
worldwide eradication of polio, marking the launch of the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI)
• It was spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary
International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), UNICEF, and Bill & Melinda Gates. WHO(2022).
• Since then, the incidence of polio worldwide has been reduced by
99% from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic
countries then, to 6 reported cases in 2021.

5. INTRODUCTION
• On average between 1950 and 1955, WHO was informed annually of
almost 85,000 of which 87% originated from Europe, Asia , North
America and Japan.

6. INTRODUCTION
• In 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2014, WHO certified the various regions as
polio-free; the Americas, Pacific, European and South-East Asia
respectively.
• In 2020, Africa became the fifth region to be certified wild poliovirus-
free
• The Polio Eradication Strategy 2022–2026 lays out the roadmap to
securing a lasting and sustained world, free of all polioviruses.
•

7. METHODOLOGY
• In 1974, Nicholas, Ofosu-Amaah and their colleagues conducted a
research on lame children, initially identified by school teachers as
being unable to walk normally.
• .

8. FINDINGS
• They found out that, the annual incidence of polio in children in
Ghana, at 232 per million population, was twice as high as it has been
in the United State before vaccination.
• The polio was the cause of the disability in over 60% in the lame
children examined