Wild polio was eradicated from Gaza over 25 years ago. The re-emergence of vaccine-derived poliovirus could be due to a combination of poor hygiene and sanitation, as seen in Uttar Pradesh, and low vaccine coverage.
India faces a 'threat' of importation of wild and vaccine-derived polio viruses, but Kolkata sample not a public health worry, according to World Health Organization.
India was declared polio-free by WHO in 2014. Polio vaccine is a live attenuated virus, which suggests the virus can be detected in samples collected from areas with high vaccination rates.
Polio triggered no pandemics, no economic crashes. Yet the large-scale campaign against what was once called infantile paralysis is arguably the closest precedent to today’s effort.
The US contributed about 15% of the WHO’s funding to wipe out polio in 2018-19 and roughly 32% of the money used to tackle tuberculosis, according to WHO.
The collusion between the new class of bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and trade union bosses perpetuates itself partly because of the short-run benefits and partly because they see no way out of the system, wrote author MH Mody in 1980.
IAF is firming up plans to revamp airlift capabilities with medium transport aircraft that will be assembled in India & serve as its main workhorse. Embraer is leading contender as of now.
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