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DISASTER NEWS
Anti-polio
campaigns progressing in India and Pakistan,
hindered in Afghanistan
19 Jun
2007
India has seen
a significant decline in polio, with only 82
cases reported in the first half of this
year, down from 676 last year, according to
the World Health Organization (WHO).
Moreover, the number of the most virulent
P-1 virus is also reduced. Of the 82 cases
thus far, 44 were of the P-3 virus, which
generally remains restricted to the region,
and the remainder were P-1. The P-2 virus
polio was eradicated worldwide in 1999. “The
exhaustive immunization drive by India is
quite encouraging. The government, WHO,
NGOs, and religious leader are working in
tandem to battle the disease,” said senior
WHO health coordinator V. Cherian. Across
India’s border, Pakistan also recently
launched a polio vaccination campaign
targeting children. Pakistan’s government,
working with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
and WHO, on June 19 initiated a campaign to
immunize over 12 million children against
polio. The timing of the campaign launch
aims to raise children’s immunity ahead of
the rainy season, a time of high polio
transmission. Melissa Corkum, UNICEF
spokeswoman for the campaign in the capital
of Islamabad said, “It is critical that all
children under five in…high risk districts
are protected through immunization.” Since
1994, Pakistan has made substantial progress
toward the goal of polio eradication.
According to Corkum, 60 percent of all polio
cases last year were restricted to just six
of the country’s districts. 85 percent of
the districts have not seen a polio case in
two years. While Pakistan and India are
encouraged by declining polio cases,
Pakistan’s neighbor to the northwest,
Afghanistan, saw a resurgence of polio last
year. There were 31 confirmed polio cases in
Afghanistan in 2006. This marks a
significant spike up from the just four
cases in 2004, when the Afghan government
pledged to eliminate the disease in the
country by 2007. Continuing conflict in
Afghanistan has been a significant hindrance
to the four polio immunization drives
already undertaken this year. The situation
prompted the UN to call upon all sides of
the conflict – insurgents, government, and
international forces – to cease fighting
during the June 17-19 immunization drive.
India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan comprise
three of the four countries where the virus
remains endemic, with the other country
being Nigeria. Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a
highly infectious disease that mainly
affects children under three, and can result
in paralysis.
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