Africa and Pakistan Face Polio Outbreaks

New polio cases are emerging in some of the world’s most unstable places – North Waziristan, Somalia and a Kenya refugee camp. The world had about 350,000 cases in 1988 and 223 cases in 2012, a 99 percent decrease, but polio can spread quickly, especially among children under the age of five, reports the World Health Organization. Poverty and rumors add to the challenges of health care workers. The outbreak in Pakistan is in an area where “a warlord banned polio vaccinations after it was disclosed that the C.I.A. had staged a hepatitis vaccination campaign in its hunt for Osama bin Laden,” reports Donald McNeil for the New York Times. Global health workers had anticipated eradication by 2018 with a $5.5 billion plan, and McNeil describes a campaign that steps up vaccination efforts, with paid workers and posts set up along transportation networks. WHO concludes, “As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.” – YaleGlobal