Africa declared free from wild polio; Will South Asia be Next?
Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Professor at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan.
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Media Source: India International Times
Date: 2 September 2020
The World Health Organisation has declared Africa free of wild polio as no new cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded on the continent since 2016, but other types of the virus persist. There are now just two countries on Earth where the virus remains endemic (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Unless the two neighbours in South Asia…
The World Health Organisation has declared Africa free of wild polio as no new cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded on the continent since 2016, but other types of the virus persist. There are now just two countries on Earth where the virus remains endemic (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Unless the two neighbours in South Asia focus on peace-building, reducing vaccine hesitancy, and boosting basic medical services and routine immunisations, it will be difficult to eradicate it here, said Zulfiqar Bhutta, a public-health researcher at the Aga Khan University in Karachi.