Can Pakistan bring back polio to India?

India has so far been extremely successful in its efforts against polio, with zero cases reported last year. However, experts believe that the disease may still find its way back in the country through Pakistani travellers.

Previously, the polio virus is reported to have travelled to Afghanistan and Syria from Pakistan. In order to ensure that it doesn't come to India too, the Indian High Commission has issued directives stating that all Pakistani travellers must get themselves vaccinated before entering India. 'Travellers from Pakistan to India will be required to carry their vaccination record as evidence of being vaccinate against polio. After January 30, 2014 it will be requested for entry into India ', a statement issued to the Pakistani media said.

'Tremendous efforts have been put by India to set herself free from polio but its neighbour, Pakistan, is a hotbed for polio. This year too, we have 63 cases of polio in Pakistan. Nigeria and Afghanistan have reported 51 and 9 cases respectively,' Dr Carol Pandak, director of Rotary International's polio eradication program told DNA. (Read: Polio eradication: The show must go on)

What makes Pakistan's battle against polio really difficult, is that Islamic extremists believe that polio vaccinations are against the Islamic way of life and may even be a ploy by western countries to sterilise Islamic men. Also, there is a belief that these UN backed polio workers might be undercover CIA agents and they have been regularly killed on this suspicion.

On the brighter side, a decree was recently issued by Maulana Samiul Haq, saying that polio vaccinations were not un-islamic. Pakistan only needs to look towards its neighbour, which has done really well in its battle against the disease, and hopefully in a few years there will be no polio cases reported in the country.

What is polio?

Polio or poliomyelitis is a communicable viral disease which affects the nerves and can lead to partial or permanent paralysis. It is transmitted through stool or saliva. The global effort to eradicate polio has been very successful and from 350,000 cases in 1988 only 40 cases were reported worldwide in 2012. There is no cure for the diseases though vaccination can prevent the disease for life. India has done remarkably in eradicating polio and from 2011 no new cases were reported. (Read more..)

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