UNICEF: Special screening of "The Final Inch"

NEW YORK, 3 April 2009 More than 50 years after the discovery of the first safe and effective polio vaccine, the window is closing on the chance to eradicate the disease for good.

Enormous strides have been made in consigning polio to history, but the effects of climate change could bring it roaring back. That alarming prospect was one of several topics covered last night in the panel discussion at a special New York screening of The Final Inch, an Academy Award-nominated film about polio in India.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a 99 per cent reduction in polio cases due to the commitment of Rotary and other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. Eradication of polio worldwide is within reach with the continued investment in vaccinating children.

Made by Vermillion Films and Google.org, and directed by Irene Taylor-Brodsky, The Final Inch documents efforts to stamp out polio in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which are among the few remaining areas where the paralyzing and often fatal childhood disease remains endemic.

The documentary was made with assistance from UNICEF India.

To read the full story, visit http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index_49102.html

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