VOA常速英语:阿富汗和巴基斯坦根除不了骨髓灰质炎

Administering the polio vaccine is a simple procedure, but in partsof the world, vaccinators risk their lives to protect children from lifelongparalysis.

Earlier this year, vaccinations stopped during a tribal protest inPakistan, polio workers were attacked, harassed and killed after anti-vaccinerumors spread on social media and as a result the number of polio casesincreased. Yet despite the dangers, many workers persist in their efforts toend polio. It mostly affects children 5 and under. And since 1988, when theglobal effort to eradicate polio started, the number of cases has declined by99.9%. In 2018, only two countries Pakistan and Afghanistan reported cases ofthe wild polio virus.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, clean water is hard to come by, makingit harder to eradicate the virus. It spreads through tainted water and becauseof poor hygiene. That two samples are telling us that there is a polio virusaround that’s a danger sign, that is a red line, and it can only becircumvented when we are giving polio drops to everybody around.

To prevent children from getting polio, they need to be vaccinatedand revaccinated especially where there’s poor sanitation. In thoseenvironments with frequent infections, about 15 times doses is what isconsidered adequate. One of the problems in Pakistan and Afghanistan is gettingto the children. Many families migrate back and forth between the countries,making it hard to vaccinate every single child.

The virus was in one country and both countries need to worktogether and they’re increasingly doing that, and sharing data and coordinatingdates for vaccination campaigns and sharing surveillance data and all of thatis having is having an impact. The goal is to end transmission of the wildpolio virus.

There’s no set end date but getting to the end is essential. Unlessyou get to zero cases because it’s such a contagious disease and an epidemicprone disease we run the risk that it will spread again globally. Success is byno means assured, but the Global Polio Eradication Initiative intends tocontinue its campaign until no child ever again gets polio.