INDIA – India is celebrating a major milestone – the eradication of polio.
No one has been diagnosed with the disease in three years, thanks to a massive public health campaign to vaccinate children throughout the subcontinent.
2 million volunteers vaccinate an incredible 170 million children under five – during each round of immunizations.
Just five years ago, nearly half of all new polio cases were cropping up in India.
While the U.S. has been polio-free for decades, a combination of unsanitary conditions, poor nutrition, and contaminated drinking water made India a hotbed for the disease for years.
Now the World Health Organization is expected to officially declare the country polio-free.
“To rid the country of a major illness which cripples children for a lifetime? I think that’s a huge achievement,” said Dr. Mathew Varghese of Delhi’s St. Stephen’s Hospital.
Hard to believe all it takes to protect a child from a crippling case of polio is a few drops of liquid. Yup, science is a wonderful thing.
