WHO World Health Organization

Europe Is Now A Polio-Free Zone

The European Regional Commission on Polio Elimination Certification (ERCPEC) stated formally at its meeting of June 21, 2002 in Copenhagen that polyo had been eliminated in the area of World Health Organization (WHO) EURO competence, including 51 countries totaling 873000000 of population. No case of polio has been detected for the last three years in Europe which, together with North and South Americas and the West Pacific countries, was certified as a polio-free zone1  .

This positive statement by the ERCPEC was the culmination of the six-years’ global partnership focused on polio elimination. Apart from WHO, other major partners are Rotary International, CDC and UNICEF.

This important event was highlighted by a press-conference at the RIA-Novosti press-club in Moscow, attended by Dr. Mikko Vienonen, Special Representative of WHO Director General in the Russian Federation; Dr. Gennady Onishchenko, First Vice-Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation; Acad. Vladimir Serghiyev, Director of the Russian Medical Parasitology Institute named after E.I. Martsinovsky, Chairman of the Polio Elimination Certification Commission RF; Dr. Vasily Lashkevitch, Deputy Director of the Polio and Viral Encephalitis Institute named after M.P. Tchumakov, and other representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, as well as the representatives of UNICEF and Rotary International.

From 3 to 17 cases of polio had been taken on record annually in Russia until 1995, primarily in non-immunized children under 3. In 1995, however, the incidence of polio deteriorated abruptly (154 cases, including 144 in Chechen Republic, with 6 deaths).

The outbreak of polio in Chechen Republic was stemmed by the one-time vaccination of all children under 7.

In 1996, the Russian Federation launched the Polio Elimination Programme (PEP RF), which was integral to respective European programme under the auspices of WHO.

No case of polio has been detected in Russia since 1997.

In pursuance of the Polio Elimination Programme and for environmental verification, Russia established an efficient epidemiological surveillance service, including case detection and lab testing regarding the quasi-polio (clinically similar) diseases. The Federal Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation developed and implemented the relevant software programme and the database.

Yet, according to Dr. Gennady Onishchenko, until complete elimination of polio round the world, relevant technical and preventive activities should be carried on in the Russian Federation under the PEP RF.

In this context, maintaining the sustainable wide coverage by immunization, and an additional immunization effort in the regions and risk groups retain the importance. Besides, the implementation of the National Action Plan on Polio Culture Isolation in the Russian Federation should be continued, also to prevent wild virus infiltration from regions where the disease has not been eradicated as yet.

 1 Poliomyelitis is a viral communicable disease injuring the nervous system and may cause paralysis within several hours, which may be irreversible for legs in one out of every 200 cases. 5% to 10% die from respiratory muscle paralysis.

Disease prevalence is the highest among children under 5.

International Meeting on Global Policy

for Smoking Cessation in Moscow

Preventive approaches with young people can avert smoking attributable disease 30–50 years in the future, however, smoking cessation in current adult smokers can bring population health gains more rapidly, in 20–30 years. Thus quitting smoking is the only way in which tobacco related mortality could be reduced in the medium term.

With these statistics in view, and of the overwhelming evidence for the health benefits, cost effectiveness of quitting smoking and the lack of clear policy guidelines on tobacco cessation, World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the urgent need to address tobacco cessation as an immediate medium and long term-priority for tobacco control world wide.

With this objective in mind, WHO convened experts from around the world to an international meeting on global policy for smoking cessation.

Thirty-five participants including experts in the area of treatment of tobacco dependence, and country representatives from 6 WHO regions with experience in implementing cessation policies, came together to exchange knowledge, information and experiences on how to motivate and stimulate their populations to stop smoking and using tobacco.

The global policy meeting took place in Moscow, hosted by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, to highlight the seriousness of the tobacco epidemic in Russia today.

National surveys on tobacco use demonstrate that approximately 70% of men between ages of 20–49 and 10% of women of the same age group consume cigarettes in Russia. The burden of disease mortality is equally striking: a little more than one-half of Cancer deaths and nearly one third of Cardiovascular diseases deaths are due to tobacco smoking in the Russian Federation.

The meeting was guided by Dr. Vera da Costa e Silva, Program Manager of the Tobacco Free Initiative at the World Health Organization in Geneva, and accompanied by the Regional Advisor of the Tobacco Free Initiative in Copenhagen, Dr. Haik Nikogosian and Dr Raphael Oganov, the Director of the State Scientific Research Institute of Preventive Medicine, at the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

The rich presentations from the country representatives elicited interesting discussions on effective strategies for treatment of tobacco dependence taking into account the variances in culture, health care systems, and financing capacity. This was coupled with state-of the-art knowledge on the evidence-based effective treatment of tobacco dependence.

Best practices of comprehensive strategies were highlighted by the meeting experts in the following areas: communication campaigns/Quit and Win; quit lines and internet services; smoke-free places; behavioral interventions and pharmacotherapies; adherence to smoking cessation therapies; training of health professionals and further future research and capacity needs.

The 2-day meeting closed with clear recommendations for a comprehensive global policy to guide countries in developing national policies on tobacco cessation.

This would include support for smoke-free policies in public and workplaces; increase in awareness among health administrators, policy makers and health care professionals; increase in awareness of the benefits of smoking cessation interventions among health care professionals; provisions for ongoing training for health care providers to effectively deliver brief interventions through the routine health services and that treatments of tobacco dependence (both psycho-social and pharmacological) exist and are cost effective relative to other health care interventions.

Nejma Macklai,

World Health Organization

Geneva

International Days

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