CHITWAN, OCTOBER 24
Stakeholders have warned of the possible risk of polio in the country and stressed the need for all to come together to eliminate the viral disease. Neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan are yet to be free of the disease, thus increasing risks in Nepal, they reasoned.
They were addressing an event organised today here on the occasion of World Polio Day, 2021.
Stating that failure of neighbouring countries to get rid of the disease has had much impact on the country, Rabindra Kumar Piya, Rotary District 3292 former district governor, said that the club was putting in efforts to eradicate the disease from the country.
Adviser of the polio department at the Rotary Club, Sharad Gopal Nyachhyo said that the Club started the campaign to eliminate polio in 1953, while calling for all to join the drive.
Prior to the event, a vehicle rally was organised in a bid to create awareness against the disease. No new cases of polio have been found in Nepal since 2010, according to available data.
Launched in 1988 by the World Health Organisation, the polio eradication campaign aimed to rid the world of the virus by 2000.
But 33 years on and after spending more than $15 billion, there are still isolated pockets of the disease even though polio cases worldwide have been reduced by 99 per cent.
Until the very last case is removed, there will always be the chance of the infection coming back.
In Nepal, indigenous polio was eliminated in 2000 after the country responded to WHO's eradication goal by adding polio to its successful campaign of vaccination against other diseases.
However, there were still polio cases in Nepal brought across the border from India. The last case of polio was detected in Rautahat district in 2010, and Nepal was finally declared polio free four years later.
