Polio used to be a huge health problem around the world but as of January 7th, there are only 372 cases in the world coming mostly from the three left endemic countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Eradication of a disease became an attainable goal with the eradication of small pox and now we are so close to eradicating Polio as well. "Polio incidence has dropped more than 99 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988," mainly because of efforts from the CDC and UNICEF. The goal is for Polio to be eradicated by this December but recent events in Pakistan may have put a halt on progress. About a month ago, eight health workers in Pakistan were murdered while trying to administer Polio vaccinations, causing UNICEF to halt its work in the country. With the battle on Polio being so close to ending, hopefully issues like this will not ruin progress. To read more about the attack visit http://www.intrahealth.org/page/intrahealth-international-condemns-murders-of-health-workers-in-pakistan-calls-for-action.
(Current endemic regions)
(Current endemic regions)
http://www.cdc.gov/polio/updates/
http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring.aspx
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