Polio in Balochistan

Polio remains a threat to the children of Balochistan. Balochistan has recorded 69 cases in the year 2011 and two in the start of 2012. The worseningsituation of polio is a great cause of concern for foreign donors heavily invested in the eradication of polio and the only viable situation lay with a micro-management plan at union council level. Presently, the routine immunisation rate in Balochistan is lower than 25% with the rate in the country dropping day by day. People in Balochistan have made up theories that the vaccine cause infertility, but this is absolutely not true. Lack of political will in supporting the eradication is the main hurdle. But its the duty of the provincial government to take action against those who fail to deliver but are protected by the higher-ups rather than sacked or suspended. 

The refusal cases can be dealt with the involvement of religious clerics and awareness about the safety of polio vaccine among the people living in farflung and remote areas. Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective preventive vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free. Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours. Polio can strike at any age, but it mainly affects children under five years old. 

Transmission Polio is spread through person-to-person contact. When a child is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the environment through the faeces where it can spread rapidly through a community, especially in situations of poor hygiene and sanitation. If a sufficient number of children are fully immunized against polio, the virus is unable to find susceptible children to infect, and dies out. Young children who are not yet toilet-trained are a ready source of transmission, regardless of their environment. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by faeces. There is also evidence that flies can passively transfer poliovirus from faeces to food. Most people infected with the poliovirus have no signs of illness and are never aware they have been infected. 


http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=136476