Polio is one of the fastest-spreading diseases that leave the person crippled for the rest of his life or in some serious cases, it may be fatal. The victim of polio then becomes a burden for the family members and society for the rest of his life. Once this disease was so wide spread that it had crippled a large part of every society and its disasters were spreading day by day.

The condition was so disastrous that scientists started and continued their research on emergency basis to cope up with the frightening situation. With their incessant efforts, three scientists Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin and Hilary Koprowski were successful to invent a vaccine that was able to eradicate the virus responsible for this disease.

After this, the drives were undertaken in all the countries of the world in which the children under the age of 5 were given the dose of vaccine and saved from the threat of this disease forever. In this way, almost all the countries of the world became safe from this dangerous disease. Now, this vaccine is the permanent part of the vaccines given to the children right from their birth.

On the other hand, there are still some countries of the world where this disease has not been completely eradicated and its new generation is under the constant threat of this disease. Unfortunately, Afghanistan is also one of the countries that still not to be cleared of this disease.

In order to weed out this fatal disease from every corner of our country, government launches a number of drives with the assistance of United Nations. It is also unfortunate that these drives have greatly been affected by some of the militant and extremist factors present in different parts of the country and time and again we hear of a new case of polio in these vulnerable areas.

It is very unfortunate that even after 6 decades of the invention of an effective vaccine against this disease; our children are still deprived of this essential vaccine.

In order to bring a permanent end to this problem, government not only needs to carry out polio-eradication campaigns but also start up a campaign to change the perceptions of people about the reality and effectiveness of these vaccines. For this purpose, government will have to take in confidence the important elements of society like tribal chiefs and elders and religious scholars who should then work to change the mind of common public.

This week will be remembered in the honor of Dr. Hilary Koprowski, the co-founder of the vaccine for whom the present generations and all the generations to follow will remain indebted.