Polio still visible

Sir: If anyone cared to notice, October 24 was World Polio Day, a day that is marked by awareness campaigns and events aimed at raising more knowledge about this debilitating sickness. The world has pretty much rid itself of this scourge except for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, but it is Pakistan that really takes the cake for failing to curb the spread of the virus. In this year alone, we have recorded 200 new polio cases. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Polio is a virus that is now considered, the world over, as a plague that has been beaten back into the annals of history. There are new, extremely dangerous diseases out there — did someone say Ebola? — that need the attention of doctors and scientists, not illnesses that have been defeated.
Pakistan needs to do its bit or be ostracised from the international community forever.
FARAH UMER
Multan