New Delhi:
Polio immunization efforts have been suspended in parts of Pakistan. This after the World Health Organization confirmed that a community health worker was shot dead in Karachi on Friday evening. In a separate incident earlier this week two health workers were shot at and injured in Karachi.
Last month the Taliban had issued a call that polio immunization efforts should be suspended till such time as the Americans don't stop drone attacks and had said "local people had become mental patients because of the drone strikes, which are worse than polio'.
WHO says polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can cause permanent paralysis in a matter of hours. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be eradicated if every child is immunized until transmission stops worldwide. Currently the disease remains endemic in only three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
India became polio free earlier this year, but inflow if infected people from across the border can bring the disease back into India.
Last month the Taliban had issued a call that polio immunization efforts should be suspended till such time as the Americans don't stop drone attacks and had said "local people had become mental patients because of the drone strikes, which are worse than polio'.
WHO says polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can cause permanent paralysis in a matter of hours. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be eradicated if every child is immunized until transmission stops worldwide. Currently the disease remains endemic in only three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
India became polio free earlier this year, but inflow if infected people from across the border can bring the disease back into India.
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