Afghan War is a Hindrance in the Fight against Polio
On Saturday, the commonwealth leaders have vowed to step up their fight against the deadly disease ‘polio’. They said that the war in Afghanistan was standing as an obstacle in the path of the fight and gave a warning that if the disease was not completely eradicated then the crippling disease could resurge. Now polio remains only in four countries, namely: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. All these countries are members of the Commonwealth. On Sunday, the leaders from Britain, Canada, Australia and Nigeria and the billionaire from United States, Bill Gates pledged to invest millions of dollars as extra funding to wipe the disease completely. Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, at the joint news conference with the other leaders said, “It will be an investment in saving lives.”
David Cameron, the President of Britain said that rate of the polio infection has fallen from a very high number of 350,000 per year to a low rate as compared to the earlier one which is 1,000 per year. These numbers are the infections of polio that are caused all around the globe. The British Prime Minister also said, “We are now within sight of the great goal of eradicating polio. But nearly eradicating is just not good enough. Polio is a highly contagious disease. A single person with polio can infect hundreds of people before it is even been identified. If we fail to eradicate polio completely we run the risk that the disease will spread back to the country in which it has been eradicated. As long as one child remains at risk all children remain at risk.
That is a risk we should not take.” He thus emphasized on the very important point that to ensure that polio does not come back ever it needs to be eradicated completely. Yasouf Raza Gillani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that restricted cross border movements between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the militant leaders who are orthodox and fanatic and refused to allow doctors in their areas were greatest obstacles in the fight against the crippling disease. He also said, “We are seriously concerned that polio, once eradicated in Pakistan, has resurfaced in the country during the past six to seven years.” Last week 14 new cases of polio were reported in Pakistan. This was the highest number of cases that have ever been reported. At present there are 132 cases in Pakistan.
