Polio Is Down 99 Percent, But That's Not Good Enough

According to Mary Carmichael in an article in the newsweek, the reduction in polio cases around the world by 99 percent may not be enough.

World leaders has done an extremely good job in trying to stop the outbreak of Polio but they must also understand that it is important to completely eradicate Polio. According to Mary Carmichael, Polio is a disease that would keep returning to haunt us unless we completely get rid of it. About 66% of the countries that had eradicated Polio were re-infected again. These countries are currently lacking in funds to support their causes. There is also the problem of Muslims resistance to western vaccination. Some Muslims resist the vaccination because they feel that this is just a western plot to sterilize them.


“If an infectious disease is brought down to low levels in the population, a given individual's risk of catching it will be lower—and that individual may be less likely to bother getting vaccinated against the disease because it doesn't seem like the threat it once was.”

The victims are mainly from the more rural or developing countries, thus they may not understand the point of continuing with vaccination when they thought that the threat of the disease is over.

This human complacency exist everywhere in the world not only in third world countries. This is similar to the taking of antibiotics. When we are recovering, we usually stop short of the complete dosage recommended and therefore our body cannot entirely kill the virus / bacteria which stay in our body to rear their heads later. Stronger antibiotics are then needed.

Continuous education is our only hope for change.