2. Polio eradication
Bruce Aylward, Arnab Acharya, Sarah England, Mary Agocs, Jennifer Linkins
Overview
- Polio disease and control
- GPGH aspects of polio eradication
- Politics, practicalities and economics of producing
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative
- Utility of the GPGH concept in polio eradication
- Lessons for other GPGH
The control of an infectious disease is a classic example of a public good for health. Once an infectious disease is controlled no one can be excluded from the protection afforded, and one person’s protection does not reduce that of another. The global eradication of an infectious disease is therefore a classic example of a global public good for health (GPGH). Once a disease is eradicated no one person’s receipt of this protection will diminish the protection everyone else enjoys, and every newborn entering the global community is also protected.
After 15 years of programme implementation the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is unique in offering the most well developed instance of a GPGH in practice. As such it provides substantial experience from which lessons may be drawn to facilitate the production of other possible GPGH. This session therefore considers the politics, practicalities and economics of producing the GPEI, summarizing lessons learnt.