27 Sep 2012

UN / POLIO

At a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly to launch a campaign to stamp out polio, leaders of the three remaining countries where the disease is still prevalent today (27 September) expressed hope that they will soon succeed in its eradication. UNTV / FILE

Posted at: September 27, 2012 5:03 pm

Duration: 02:26

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UN / POLIO
TRT: 2.26
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 27 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

27 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

2.	Wide shot, dais
3.	Zoom out, audience
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan:
"Afghanistan has fortunately made progress, but we are still to eradicate this disease, this affliction from our society."
5.	Med shot, audience 
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan:
"Afghanistan will strive hard and hard and hard and surely we will win, hopefully sooner rather than later."
7.	Wide shot, audience applause
8.	SOUNDBITE (English) Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria:
"We are totally committed by all the steps we have taken. We are working with not just the governors of the 11 states that still have incidences of polio, but all the 36 governors of the 36 states under the Nigerian Government's forum are totally committed. And we believe that before the end of this administration, that is 29th of May 2015, we will bring the incidence of polio to zero in Nigeria."
9.	Wide shot, audience applause
10.	SOUNDBITE (English) Asif Ali Zardari, President Pakistan:
"The road to eradication has not been easy. Two years ago we saw unprecedented floods and security issues preventing us from reaching every child. The immunization programme has been entangled in international politics and we have some of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. In cities we are mopping out every street corner, we are mobilizing local leaders and engaging the parents to make sure the campaigns are successes."
11.	Med shot, audience 
12.	SOUNDBITE (English) William Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:
"I believe that getting polio eradication done is one of the smartest allocations of resources that the world can make. The world is coming together to do something truly amazing, protect every single child everywhere from this crippling virus."
13.	Wide shot, audience applause

FILE – UNICEF – 15 MAY - JUNE 25, 2011, KANO, KANO STATE, NIGERIA

14.	Various shots, polio affected men moving in traffic

FILE – UNICEF – 26 MARCH 2001, INDIA

15.	Med shot, child crippled by polio walking in the village with his mother walking behind him

FILE – UNICEF – 15 MAY - JUNE 25, 2011, KANO, KANO STATE, NIGERIA

16.	Various shots, polio affected men moving in traffic
17.	Various shots, children being immunized

STORYLINE:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the high-level meeting that Afghanistan has "fortunately made progress"  but has not yet succeeded in eradicating the disease.

Karzai said Afghanistan "will strive hard and hard and hard and surely we will win, hopefully sooner rather than later."

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said his Government was "totally committed" to the fight against polio, and has taken important steps towards its eradication.

Jonathan said that before the end of this administration in 2015, "we will bring the incidence of polio to zero in Nigeria."

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said "the road to eradication has not been easy" in his country.

Zardari noted that Pakistan suffered "unprecedented floods and security issues" in recent years, preventing health services from reaching every child.

He said the immunization programme "has been entangled in international politics" and Pakistan has "some of the most densely populated urban areas in the world."

Nevertheless, the Government is now stepping up the fight and "mopping out every street corner," mobilizing local leaders and engaging parents "to make sure the campaigns are successes."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries then, to 1352 reported cases in 2010. In 2012, only parts of three countries in the world, Pakistan Nigeria and Afghanistan, remain endemic for the disease - the smallest geographic area in history - and case numbers of wild poliovirus type 3 are down to lowest-ever levels.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is also the Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said "getting polio eradication done is one of the smartest allocations of resources that the world can make."

Gates said protecting "every single child everywhere from this crippling virus" would be "something truly amazing."

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

Filed under AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN.