October 24 is observed as the World Polio Day to show sympathy to the polio victims and to promote awareness about the disease. Every country is trying hard to combat the polio virus and a large number of countries have successfully won over it. However, third world countries are still having a hard time dealing with this disease.
A few months ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) made the polio vaccinations and screening of all Pakistani travelers mandatory in all international airports. Due to 16 new polio cases recorded there within the last two months, WHO extended the polio screening of Pakistanis for another three months on March 4, 2015.
According to a recent CNN survey, 58 percent of Americans said that polio unvaccinated children should not be allowed in public schools. Another 78 percent of the Americans believed that even healthy children should be vaccinated against the polio virus.
While the Pakistani government is putting its best efforts to eradicate the polio virus and other countries including UAE are also helping Pakistan to fight it, many terrorist groups are consistently trying to put the polio campaigns down.
A few days ago, two polio team members were reported to be injured and one was killed in an attack in Quetta, Pakistan. Moreover, many polio workers are being kidnapped by terrorist groups. Recently, in the Baluchistan tribal area, four kidnapped polio workers were found dead.
The spread of polio virus has also reached Brazil, where such has been found in sewage water sample. Similarly, Canada has also reported 68 cases with polio resembling symptoms.
