Polio: The Indian sub-continent’s losing war

Abstract

The recent debate about 'effective control' rather than 'complete eradication' for polio has put the whole Global Polio Initiative into question. The implications for this are indeed daunting, more so for the Indian Sub-Continent, which hosts a huge chunk of the global polio load every year. The tremendous success achieved in combating polio during the previous decade in India and Pakistan is reason enough to continue on with the vaccination efforts. However, other subsidiary issues including social stigma and a weak infra-structure have also to be put into the eradication equation to meet the goal. The Sub-Continent stands at the cross-roads, and time is ripe now to formulate a multi-faceted strategy to eliminate this crippling disease from this part of the world, and consequently give a much-needed boast to global eradication efforts.