Polio heroes show the power of good

Eradicating the disease globally is close, but is only possible due to brave vaccination teams

Bill Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during the Hope awards ceremony at Al Mamoura. Mohamed Al Suwaidi / Crown Prince Court - Abu Dhabi

Amid the relentless succession of bad news stories – of atrocities by ISIL and the Assad regime in Syria, of mass shootings in the US, of poverty destroying potential in the developing world and a barrage of similar reports – the tantalising prospect of eradicating polio worldwide is a compelling demonstration of what can happen when communities work together.

With Africa being declared free of polio this week, the only places where it remains endemic are Pakistan and Afghanistan and, as Microsoft founder and polio-eradication activist Bill Gates put it in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, the campaign is "close, very close" to succeeding there too. Progress on saving future generations being blighted by a wholly preventable disease ought to be celebrated as an example of what the civilised world is capable of achieving when it works as one. Since 2011, the UAE has made the campaign a top priority in its foreign aid programme and global eradication is being predicted within a few years.

But, as the Heroes of Polio Eradication ceremony in Abu Dhabi was told, front-line vaccination workers in rural areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan have sometimes paid with their lives for trying to ensure that future generations no longer have to worry about polio. This is the definition of both courage and selflessness, and for the five workers honoured this week, there are countless others who demonstrate what is best about human aspiration.

One problem is that polio, like other diseases, thrives amid conflict, misinformation and distrust as much as it does amid unsanitary conditions. In Nigeria, the final African country to eradicate it, the anti-polio campaign was set back years after rumours spread that the vaccination was derived from pork products, angering the Muslim half of the population. Similarly in the conflict-wracked regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, stories spread that the vaccines were a western plot to sterilise Muslims. The strong support of the UAE, both financially and more importantly as a fellow Muslim country, has helped combat this misinformation.

Consigning polio to the list of eradicated diseases, alongside smallpox and the cattle disease rinderpest, will be a monumental achievement that exemplifies the stark contrast with those groups whose mission is to sow hate and discord and that so often dominate the news cycle. The ultimate accolade will be if we never have to hold another Heroes of Polio Eradication ceremony.