Sunday 20 April 2014

News


World Health Organisation says all residents must show proof of vaccination before they can leave the country



The emergency measures also apply to Syria and Cameroon, which along with Pakistan are seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting the crippling virus and undermining a UN plan to eradicate it by 2018

The virus has recently spread to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Syria, and has been found in sewage in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and greater Cairo, said WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward. It also appeared in China two years ago.

"In the majority of these re-infected areas, the viruses circulating actually trace back to Pakistan in the last 12 months"

"The best option would be vaccinating the passengers at the airport  where  vaccination cards would be safe to the passengers.

"It would be most practical as people often have to fly in emergencies."

Aylward said Pakistan had done tremendous work to restore security in Peshawar

Margaret Chan, declared the resurgence of the  to be a public health emergency of international concern, the first such designation since a 2009 flu pandemic.

The travel restrictions should stay in place until there is a whole year with no new exports of the disease.

The WHO says 10 million people are walking today thanks to efforts to wipe out the disease, which mainly affects children under five years old.

Polio passes easily from person to person and can spread rapidly among children, especially in the kind of unsanitary conditions endured by displaced people in war-torn regions, refugee camps and areas where health care is limited.

There is no cure for the disease but it can be prevented by immunisation. The polio vaccine, administered multiple times, can protect a child for life.


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