Why in news?
- Based on the risk of poliovirus, WHO said that polio will continue to remain a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for three months starting 2020
- There were 156 cases of wild polio type1 cases in 2019 compared with 28 in 2018. besides causing polio in children, it was also found In environment in Pakistan.
Prevalence of polio.
- In 2018, a total of 8,60,000 children in Afghanistan did not receive polio vaccine due to security threats.
- The situation did not improve in 2019 and, as a result, a large cohort of children in the southern region of the country remains unprotected.