Asia: So Close and Yet So Far From Polio Eradication
The goal is an ambitious one to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that every last child is immunised against the crippling disease.
Home to 1.8 billion people, roughly a quarter of the worlds population, Southeast Asia was declared
polio-free earlier this year, its 11 countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste joining the ranks of those nations that live without the polio burden.
Pakistans polio troubles
This past June, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended a travel ban on all those leaving Pakistan without proof of immunisation, in a bid to prevent the spread of polio outside the countrys troubled borders.
According to the WHO, Pakistan is responsible for nearly 80 percent of polio cases reported globally, posing a massive threat to worldwide eradication efforts.
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