The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that even though the number of polio-endemic countries have come down from 125 in 1988 to three in 2014, yet children across the globe remain at risk of contracting the disease. At present, polio is prevalent in only Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
The WHO said that failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 2,00,000 new cases every year, within ten years, all over the world. Thus, negating all the hard efforts and huge funds that has been invested to curb the deadly disease.
But with polio-infected persons undertaking foreign travels, the threat is re-emerging in countries previously free of the highly contagious virus. The WHO in May declared an international public health emergency, citing outbreaks in at least 10 countries. Particularly of concern were Syria, Somalia and Iraq, where violence has complicated efforts to contain new cases.
A senior official from the Union Health Ministry said that all efforts are being taken to ensure that polio virus does not travel to India which was declared polio-free in February this year.
Polio vaccination camps have been set up at the borders and polio vaccination has already been made mandatory for people going to or coming from the polio-endemic countries in a bid to stop the disease from re-entering the country.
People going to or coming from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Syria will have to get polio vaccination certificates which will be valid for one year, the official said.
Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age and one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5 per cent to 10 per cent die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.
Polio cases have decreased by over 99 per cent since 1988, from an estimated 3,50,000 cases then, to 416 reported cases in 2013. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease, the official added.