The Australian Polio Register was established by Polio Australia in October 2010 to gather information on the numbers of polio survivors living in Australia today, whether or not they contracted polio in this country.
Although polio became a notifiable disease in this country in 1922, Australian records of polio infections are patchy. What records do exist are frequently incomplete and inconsistent. For example, after the introduction of the polio vaccines in 1956 (Salk) and 1966 (Sabin), polio was considered to be a solved problem and many hospital polio records were simply destroyed as “no longer required”.
Despite Polio Australia’s best efforts since 2007, successive governments have shown no interest in commissioning research to quantify the number of polio survivors living in Australia today.
There are currently 3937 polio survivors on the Register and this number increases daily.
With limited resources to promote the Polio Register widely in the community we are nevertheless pleased with the results to date, however, we know there are many more thousands of Australian polio survivors who have not yet added their details.
To make the Australian Polio Register truly reflective of the unmet need for polio services throughout Australia, we urge every Australian polio survivor to join the Polio Register. Our strength lies in our numbers – please help us to get you the services you need by adding your polio details to the Register. You can register online or by downloading and completing a paper copy.
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