Article Analysis

This article describes eradication efforts in Ghaziabad, India where the polio virus has been extremely difficult to wipe out due to poverty, living conditions, overcrowding and lack of sanitation. Leslie Roberts explains how the World Health Organization coordinates a team to visit Ghaziabad in the article, “Fighting Polio Block by Block, House by Shack” from the science journal Science AAAS published March 26, 2004. The purpose of the article is to provide some information to the public and organizations working with the WHO on eradicating the polio virus, which is possible yet challenging in some parts of the world especially the slums of India. Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad is an area where it is the most difficult to eliminate due to its condition. The writer describes the environment that the children in this particular state in India are living in and how easily they could be infected with the polio virus. Roberts mentions WHO’s tremendous efforts on their mission to send volunteers to every home in Ghaziabad, demanding and persuading parents to vaccinate their children. These well-trained volunteer vaccinators are monitored so that no children are left unvaccinated. This is a serious issue that WHO has been working on for the past two decades and Roberts explains it clearly in this article the endeavor WHO has put in trying to completely eradicate the virus.

The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh offers an almost perfect environment for the virus to survive--even thrive (Roberts). It is difficult trying to eliminate the virus in this area due to the environmental conditions. The homes in this poor state do not have toilets or running water except for a single standpipe, making the growing population of children more vulnerable to the polio virus. Children sit and play bottomless in the mud where human and animal feces drain out from ditches.

The World Health Organization and its partners have been working together to eradicate the disease for more than 20 years, yet their toughest challenge is India. Parts of India are ideal niches for the virus, which its route of infection is fecal-orally, to remain in existence. Hundreds of millions of dollars, including from Indian government funding, was spent in 2004 to send out volunteers, vaccination booths, vaccinators and supervisors to vaccinate the 165 million children in India. They would receive two drops of the oral polio vaccine (OPV). There would be a two-person team of volunteers consisting of health workers, teachers, midwives, whoever the government could enlist that visit homes carrying insulted bags full of vaccines and ice packs. After the visiting the homes, they would mark the house with the chalk “P” or “X” to indicate success or fail respectively of vaccination. If all of the children where home, there would be a “P”, if parents refused or any of the children were not immunized for some reason, then there would be an “X”. The house would then be revisited by the same team or community leaders. The vaccinators are also supervised and tested to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do.

The writer clearly explained the living conditions that these children are living in. It explains how difficult and important it is for the team of vaccinators to locate and vaccinate every single child. She described with significant details what the World Health Organization is doing on their strict mission to eradicate the problem.

This is an important update on the polio eradication efforts by the World Health Organization and its partners and the ongoing problems faced in countries living in poverty, overcrowding and lack of sanitation not only by the organization but also by the millions of children living in this country.

Reference
Roberts, Leslie. 2004. “Fighting Polio Block by Block, House by Shack” [Internet 2004 March 26. High Wire Press. [cited 2009 May 31] Available from http://www.sciencemag.org.mutex.gmu.edu/cgi/search?fulltext=polio&andorexactfulltext=or&titleabstract=&andorexacttitleabs=or&title=&andorexacttitle=or&author1=&author2=&datetype=rangedates&fmonth=Jul&fyear=1880&tmonth=May&tyear=2009&hits=10&sortspec=relevance&search_keyword-submit.x=0&search_keyword-submit.y=0&search_keyword-submit=search&resourcetype=1%2C10&tocsectionid=all