What is preventing the world from eradicating polio? Essay sample

In many countries, polio is a distant memory. Thank to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the incidents of disease reduced by 99% worldwide. The program provided live oral polio vaccines on the global scale. Combined with a strong political advocacy and mass mobilization, simple measures wiped polio away from most affected countries. Only marginalized rural communities preserved the virus so far. Today only Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan remain polio-endemic. Low political advocacy, poor community participation, and vaccine failure are responsible for the inability to eradicate polio in these areas.

 

Social awareness and consciousness are essential to establish herd immunity. There is no chance to eradicate the disease while people do not rush to immunize their children. There are multiple misbeliefs that prevent parents from vaccinating children, not only in the developed world but in the remote areas as well. Some regions still lack vaccines. The cost of eradicating polio currently rose to $4.5 billion compared to the initially expected $2 billion. If an eradication program has started with insufficient funding, not all affected areas will eventually get the vaccine. Over the time, new threats appeared on the way to suppressing the virus. In 2006, 20 cases of polio in adults have been reported in Namibia. It also appeared that previously vaccinated individuals also fell ill with polio.