The announcement was made Saturday March 3rd, during an official ceremony in Riyadh under the patronage of the Saudi Minister of Health Dr. Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Maneh.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been successfully implementing a polio eradication program since 1989 with vaccination coverage of over 95% of children born every year and no indigenous wild polio cases since 1995.
Sanofi pasteur is the main provider of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and a partner to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the eradication of this devastating disease. During the ceremony, sanofi pasteur was recognized as one of the key contributors to polio eradication efforts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and awarded with a commemorative plaque as a sign of appreciation.
In the rest of the world, sanofi pasteur is an historical partner to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched by the WHO in 1988:
- Since 1988, sanofi pasteur has been a leading provider of OPV, supplying over 600 million vaccine doses in 2006, helping to reduce the number of polio cases by 99% with an estimated five million people escaping paralysis (1).
- In 2005, sanofi pasteur developed a novel Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine 1 or MOPV1 following urgent requests from the WHO. Fifty million doses of MOPV 1 were used for the polio eradication campaign in Egypt. As a result, Egypt was declared polio-free by the WHO in February 2006 (2).
- Since 1997 sanofi pasteur has donated over 120 million doses of polio vaccine to developing countries.
The commitment of sanofi pasteur to fight poliomyelitis can be traced back to the 1950s with the development of a novel growth method for the virus used for the first polio vaccine, the Salk Vaccine, which led to the first mass immunization campaigns in the United States.
Today, sanofi pasteur remains at the forefront of polio eradication with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and oral polio vaccine (OPV).
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Sanofi Pasteur commends Saudi Arabia for being declared Polio-free
- Saudi Arabia: Sunday, March 04 - 2007 at 14:35
- PRESS RELEASE
Sanofi pasteur (NYSE: SNY), the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, commends the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for being declared a polio-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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About PolioPoliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% dies when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. In 1994, the Region of the Americas was certified polio-free by the World Health Organization, followed by the Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the European Region in 2002; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards global eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.
About sanofi-aventis
Sanofi-aventis is one of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, ranking number one in Europe. Backed by a world-class R&D organisation, sanofi-aventis is developing leading positions in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic diseases, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).
Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, sold more than a billion doses of vaccine in 2006, making it possible to protect more than 500 million people across the globe. The company offers the broadest range of vaccines, providing protection against 20 bacterial and viral diseases. For more information, please visit: www.sanofipasteur.com
(1) World Health Organization, Immunization against diseases of public importance. Fact sheet no288, March 2005, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs288/en/index.html
(2) UNICEF, Egypt is now polio-free http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/egypt_30860.html
sanofi Pasteur: Ramzi Mushrek,
Tel : +971-4-227-6876 / +971-50-55-24-808,
Pascal Barollier, International Media Relations,
Tel: + 33-(0)4-37-37-51-41,
sanofi Pasteur: Len Lavenda, U.S. Media Relations, Tel: +1-570-839-4446
Posted by Lara Lynn Golden, News EditorSunday, March 04 - 2007 at 14:35 UAE local time (GMT+4)
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