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This is probably some of the best health news in the last decade, the fact that India has managed to beat polio! There have been lots of great health news lately, such as the one about remote-controlled nanoparticles which destroy cancer cells and it seems the good news keeps on coming.
India Beats Polio – Rukhsar Khatoon
Young 4 year-old Rukhsar Khatoon is the last person in India, a country of 1.2 billion people, to have been sick with poliomyelitis. She is the last documented case of polio in a country that has made great efforts to rid itself of the crippling disease that has been made obsolete in the majority of countries.
On Thursday, the WHO (World Health Organization) has made the official announcement: India beats polio and is now polio-free.
The global effort to end the awful disease was launched in 1988, when over 200,000 cases of the disease happened in India. In 2009, half of the world cases were still found in India. That is why the fact that India beat polio is such fantastic news. Many health experts didn’t believe that this could happen in such a short period of time, but they were wrong; young Rukhsar Khatoon is the last person to have developed the disease, three years ago.
With this news, WHO proclaimed Southeast Asia free of polio. Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan are the only three countries that have not eradicated the disease. What is the key to the success? One word: immunization!
The young girl’s parents blame themselves for their daughter’s disease. They said she’s always been a sick child and they didn’t want to put her through more vaccinations and hospitals. Her father knows that his child will never walk again. But she will live a life in India, a country without polio.
The last great news about polio was shared with the world by WHO in 2002, when Europe was declared polio-free. What are your thoughts on the fact that India beats polio? Do you know anyone who’s battled the disease? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
