Friday, March 28, 2014

India is Polio-free : Declares WHO




WHO South-East Asia Region, home to a quarter of the world’s population, was certified polio-free on 27th March 2014, by an independent commission under the WHO certification process. This is the fourth of six WHO Regions to be certified, marking an important step towards global polio eradication. With this step, 80% of the world’s population now lives in certified polio-free regions. The region includes,

India and 10 other Asian countries.    Apart from India, the other countries which were given polio-free certificates were Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. 


A country is declared polio-free by the WHO, if no case is reported for three consecutive years. India reported the last polio case in January 2011.   An independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties constituting the Southeast Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication met for two days to review evidence from the countries before reaching the decision.

Congratulations to  the team of 2.3 million polio volunteers and 150,000 supervisors worked day and night to reach every child.
 
Before a Region can be certified polio-free, several conditions must be satisfied such as: at least three years of zero confirmed cases due to indigenous wild poliovirus; excellent laboratory-based surveillance for poliovirus; demonstrated capacity to detect, report, and respond to imported cases of poliomyelitis; and assurance of safe containment of polioviruses in laboratories (introduced since 2000).


Certification of the Region comes as countries prepare for the introduction of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in routine immunization as part of the eventual phasing out of oral polio vaccines (OPV). More than 120 countries currently use only OPV. These countries will introduce a dose of IPV by the end of 2015 as part of their commitment to the global polio endgame plan which aims to ensure a polio-free world by 2018.

Read More at WHO press note

Monday, March 24, 2014

WORLD TB DAY 2014

Each year, WHO observes World TB day on March 24th. This annual event commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis. World TB Day provides the opportunity to raise awareness about TB-related problems and solutions and to support worldwide TB-control efforts.

This year CDC selected the theme "Find TB. Treat TB. Working together to eliminate TB."


The theme is chosen to highlight that TB is still a life-threatening problem in the United States, despite the declining number of TB cases. Anyone can get TB, and our current efforts to find and treat latent TB infection and TB disease are not sufficient. Misdiagnosis of TB still exists and health care professionals often do not "think TB." This year’s World TB Day theme encourages local and state TB programs to reach out to their communities to raise awareness about TB.
 (Source : CDC)