Polio is a fatal infectious disease, with no cure but with the help of an effective vaccine, it can e prevented. To raise awareness for vaccination and eradication of polio, World Polio Day was established. In 1955, Jonas Salk, the American researcher, led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. To commemorate his birth Rotary international established World Polio Day, October 24.
Polio has crippled millions of lives and claimed several lives too. Despite the availability of the effective vaccine, this preventable viral disease has impacted a huge number of lives world wide. Polio is also called as poliomyelitis. It spreads through contaminated food and water and this disease gives severe symptoms of paralysis, may lead to permanent disability, many times it is fatal too. It can be spread through the feces of an infected individual.
World Polio Day offers an opportunity to renew the commitment to eradicate polio, globally. The goal of eradication of polio was first adopted in 1988 and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI ) was established. Today five out of six WHO regions are certified free of polio. The last stronghold of this poliovirus is in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
