In India, I was able to observe a Polio Vaccination camp sponsored by the Rotary Club. Poliomyelitis or Polio or Infantile paralysis is viral infectious disease. It affects central nervous system which leads to paralysis.
There is no cure for Polio; however, through passive immunization it can be avoided. There two vaccines available: Salk vaccine developed in 1955 and oral polio vaccine in 1962. This oral polio vaccination is inexpensive and easy to administer. This is the one administered during this camp.
World Health Organization (WHO), United International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and The Rotary Foundation started effort to eradicate Polio from the world. Polio vaccines have reduced worldwide incidence of polio from 350,000 in 1988 to 1652 in 2007. As a result, now only Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India have a few strains of polio.
Pulse Polio Immunization program covers all children of the ages three years or younger. This vaccination is administered under this program at fixed booths on fixed day. Now government of Bihar has launched free of cost door to door drive twice a week to eradicate polio in each state.
49 cases of polio infection have been reported in Bihar out of reported 236 cases of India in 2009 and remaining 181 in Uttar Pradesh, 4 in Delhi and one each in Rajasthan and Uttrakhand. It is clear that the mission to eradicate polio is well on its way. A large percentage of the credit goes to the Rotary Clubs that put in the effort and man labor to walk to each door and administer the vaccination. It gives me a good feeling knowing that polio, a disease that has caused so much pain and hardship, will once and for all disappear.
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