DHAKA: World Health Organization (WHO) Thursday declared ‘polio free’ 11 countries of South-East Asia including Bangladesh.                           

WHO certified Bangladesh as a polio free country finding no polio victim in the country in last three years.

According to the declaration, 80 percent of the total world population is now Polio free.

The significant announcement has come from a meeting of the Regional Certification Committee in New Delhi on Thursday.     

This is the fourth of six WHO Regions to be certified, marking an important step towards global polio eradication.   

The other 10 countries that were declared polio free are India, Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bhutan, North Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and East Timor.

An independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties constituting the South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE) met for two days to review evidence from countries before reaching the decision that all 11 countries of the Region are now polio-free and have met the requirements for certification.

Before a region can be certified polio-free, several conditions must be fulfilled such as: at least three-year 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).

At present, only three countries of this zone are polio-endemic: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. According to a WHO report, cases of polio have decreased by over 99% since 1988.

The Director of WHO (South East Asia region) Dr. Poonam Khetrapal said this is a gigantic victory for health workers especially who were directly engaged in removing the curse from their areas.

BDST: 1956 HRS, MAR 27, 2014