Friday, September 16, 2011

Blog #3 Afghanistan & the Fight against Polio

Afghanistan is taking ultimate measure to eradicate polio by the end of next year. Polio (Poliomyelitis) is a viral disease that can affect nerves and can lead to partial or full paralysis. Polio has become a serious problem in children mainly under 2 in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, & Chad. Security has become a huge factor in slowing down the process of getting completely rid of the disease.

Officials are unable to give a lot of children under the age of 5 the vaccine because of insecurities. 85 % of the population is now polio free but it’s still going around in 13 districts. Officials are doing everything from making it a public issue, to campaigning, to going door to door to inform everyone & put a stop to it.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93735 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002375/

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