(Image source: French Tribune)
 

BY STEVEN HSEIH, MALLORY PERYMAN, JJ BAILEY

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

October 24th marks World Polio Day -- and in India, a milestone in its fight against the disease.

The country reported only one case of polio this year-- compared with 39 last year. And the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation notes -- cases have dropped 99% in the last 20 years.

“Polio is 99 percent gone.  Why stop there? We never have before”

Continuing that optimism-- an editorial contributor for the Globe and Mail writes...

“We are on the cusp of ending this disease. But for this to happen, it is not enough it be restricted geographically – it must disappear from the face of the Earth so a new outbreak becomes impossible.”

According to the BBC-- there haven’t been any new cases reported in India in nine months-- thanks, in part-- to large-scale immunization programs.

“Every year, India holds two national immunisation days in January and February and on each of these days, nearly 170.2 million children are given polio drops.”

But the disease isn’t completely gone from India-- and an immunizations advocate tells ABC Radio Australia-- the final push will be the toughest.

“I think the final one per cent is always difficult, because you're talking about children who are in war zones, children who are in situations of civil unrest, children who are in very rural and remote areas where sometimes there are no health services...”

While India is down to 1% infection rate-- the fight isn’t going so well everywhere.  The LA Times reports -- Pakistan’s eradication efforts are being stifled by a general distrust for the vaccines and their providers.

“Radical clerics seed rumors that vaccines are un-Islamic because they are made from substances derived from pigs, or that they cause infertility...The reluctance by some Pakistanis to trust polio vaccination programs is also driven by a belief that the U.S. is behind the campaigns.”

According to the World Health Organization, a country is officially polio free when no cases of the disease are reported for three years.