Nov 13, 2013

United Nations: Polio vaccination campaign in Sudan has failed.

Efforts to vaccinate 165,000 children against polio in Sudan's violence-wracked South Kordofan and Blue Nile states have failed, the director of UN humanitarian operations told the UN security council on Monday.

John Ging said he urged the UN's most powerful body to use its clout to get the children vaccinated.

Last month, the security council expressed alarm at the imminent threat of the spread of polio through the two states and the continuing outbreak of polio in the Horn of Africa.Read more www.theguardian.com

Nov 12, 2013

Polio virus strain found in Syria confirmed as originating from Pakistan, WHO says.

Syria's polio outbreak has been genetically linked to the strain circulating in Pakistan and is also related to the wild poliovirus appearing in Egypt, Israel and Palestinian territories in the past year, the World Health Organization announced on Monday .

The agency also reported an increase in the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases in Syria, which jumped from 10 to 13 cases. Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), a highly infectious strain that causes paralysis, has not been detected in Syria since 1999. 

Read more www.reuters.com

Nov 11, 2013

EUROPEAN UNION - Cross-border healthcare: patients’ rights.

The freedom to receive health services throughout the European Union must be accompanied by guarantees of quality and security. In order to make an informed choice, patients must be able to access all the information they require on the conditions under which they will receive healthcare in another EU Member State and the conditions under which they will be reimbursed once they return home.

Under this Directive, patients from Member States of the European Union will be able to travel to a different country other than their own to receive healthcare treatment, paying for the services they receive and subsequently applying for reimbursement from their own country, under certain conditions and, in the case of certain treatments, following prior authorisation. The spirit of this Directive is a response to the free circulation of people, goods and services within the EU.

Nov 8, 2013

A polio outbreak in Syria threatens to spread into Europe, according to experts.

WHO has confirmed an outbreak of at least ten cases of polio in Syria, where vaccination coverage has dramatically decreased during the civil war.

Furthermore, wild-type poliovirus 1 (WPV1) has been isolated from sewage and faeces from asymptomatic carriers in Israel since February, 2013. Tourists and travellers could bring the infection to other countries.

Precautions during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia in October, 2013, ensured that visitors from regions with known polio transmission were vaccinated, but Syria was not on the list.

Moreover, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Syria and seek refuge in neighbouring countries and Europe.

20 million children are to be vaccinated in Syria and neighboring countries against polio.

(Reuters) - More than 20 million children are to be vaccinated in Syria and neighboring countries against polio to try to stop the spread of the crippling infectious disease following its re-emergence there after 14 years,United Nations agencies said on Friday.

The mass vaccination against polio, which can spread rapidly among children, is already under way in the Middle East a week after the region declared a polio emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children fund UNICEF said.

Read more www.reuters.com

Nov 4, 2013

Syrian minister blames polio outbreak on 'jihadists' from Pakistan.

A Syrian government minister has claimed that foreign fighters waging a jihadist war are responsible for an outbreak of polio in the country.

Ten cases have been confirmed by the United Nations in the first substantiated outbreak of the disease in Syria in 14 years.Babies and toddlers under two years old have contracted the disease.

Kindah al-Shammat, the Social Affairs Minister, told the Associated Press news agency that jihadis from Pakistan were to blame.

Oct 31, 2013

Polio can make menopause more severe.

(NewsFix) A study shows that women who are disabled by polio have more trouble with the menopause than non-disabled women.

Polio is an illness which often affects children but whose symptoms – which are neurological in kind – may persist for many years. Doctors at the University of Michigan reveal how polio impacts on women going through the menopause.

They carried out a nationwide study covering half a million women in the US with a history of polio and compared them to men with a history of polio to see what impact menopause might have. 

They found that the more severe a woman’s post-polio symptoms were, the worse her menopausal symptoms were. And while post-polio women approaching menopause were more happy than their male counterparts, when they were going through the menopause, the reverse was true.

And more post-polio women – 39 per cent – used hormone replacement therapy than women without a history of polio (the average rate for US women is just 21 per cent). The study will, hopefully, raise awareness of the difficulties that polio survivors may have with the menopause.

Oct 29, 2013

Ten cases of child polio confirmed in Syria by the WHO.

The United Nations says ten cases of polio have been confirmed among children in Syria and that there is a high risk of the outbreak spreading across the region. 

The World Health Organization said it was waiting for the results of laboratory tests on 12 more cases.

Read more  www.reuters.com

Oct 28, 2013

PESHAWAR - Confirmed four new polio cases.

More polio cases surface in KP, Fata.

PESHAWAR: The National Institute of Health Islamabad has confirmed four new polio cases, including two from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to officials.

They said that the fourth victim of polio belonged to a Pakhtun family, currently living in Karachi. 

Officials said that Fata had recorded 38 polio cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had seven, Sindh had five and Punjab had recorded three out of the total cases reported in 2013 so far.
According to them, the new cases have brought the nationwide polio count to 53.

Read more www.dawn.com

Oct 27, 2013

700,000 children under 5 in Lebanon are to receive polio vaccines within the next two months after suspected cases of the incurable disease were discovered in neighboring Syria.

Lebanon to vaccinate children after suspected polio cases in Syria.

(Reuters) - Lebanon, which hosts more than 700,000 Syrian refugees, said on Friday it would vaccinate all children under five against polio after suspected cases of the crippling viral disease were found in neighboring Syria.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday at least 22 people had acute flaccid paralysis, a symptom of diseases including polio, in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zor province, which borders Iraq, most of them children.


Read more www.reuters.com

Oct 24, 2013

Madrid - Comunicado de la Asociación Afectados de Polio y Síndrome Post-Polio - España, con motivo del Día Mundial de la Poliomielitis (24 de octubre de 2013).

Comunicado de la Asociación Afectados de Polio y Síndrome Post-Polio, con motivo del Día Mundial de la Polio (24 de octubre de 2013).


Sin vergüenza, ni conciencia.

En el año 2012, se registraron 223 casos de polio en el mundo, de los cuales 70 casos son originados por los virus circulantes de la vacuna.

En lo que va de 2013, se han registrado 296 casos de polio en el mundo, de los cuales 43 casos son originados por los virus circulantes de la vacuna.

Estos datos proceden de la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Pero estamos seguros de que son más, pues en las Dictaduras y países que no respetan los derechos de sus ciudadanos, no se declaran todos los casos de polio.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud estima que hay entre 10 y 20 millones de supervivientes de la polio en el mundo.

Estas cifras que resultan muy reveladoras, demuestran que ni los países ricos saben contar, ni supieron ni sabrán, porque no interesa.

En cuanto a las cifras de muertos por la poliomielitis, en España en el periodo de 1956 a 1963 hubo sin ser un dato seguro, pues pudieron ser más, 1600 muertes por polio. Desde 1955 ya existía una vacuna segura y eficaz.

Los supervivientes de polio estamos en el mundo sin salud, sin justicia, sin verdad, ni reparación. Pero la justicia, la verdad y la reparación la hemos tenido que buscar nosotros, aunque quede mucho por hacer y saber, quizás así consigamos la salud.

La Asociación Afectados de Polio y Síndrome Post-Polio, contra viento y marea, y creednos hay mucho viento y mucha marea, dando continuidad a nuestra lucha ante los Tribunales iniciada en 2003, desde septiembre de 2013 está en el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos de Estrasburgo, con el primero de los casos.

Que no nos pase nada.


Lola Corrales
Presidenta de la Asociación Afectados de Polio y Síndrome Post-Polio


Oct 22, 2013

PAKISTAN - A 13-year-old girl suffering from polio was allegedly raped by two men in Faisalabad.

PAKISTAN-FAISALABAD - A 13-year-old girl suffering from polio was allegedly raped by two men in Faisalabad on Monday.

According to media reports, the accused raped the girl, who hailed from Jaranwala, and later escaped from the scene. The girl was shifted to a hospital.

The authorities registered a case against the suspects. Later, the police claimed that one of the accused had been arrested whereas investigation was underway to apprehend his accomplice. 

www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Oct 21, 2013

The World Health Organization says it believes polio has erupted in war-torn Syria.

Experts are concerned that polio may have made a return to war-torn Syria.
The World Health Organization says it has received reports of the first suspected outbreak in the country in 14 years.

Syrian's Ministry of Public Health is launching an urgent response, but experts fear the disease will be hard to control amid civil unrest.

Immunisation is almost impossible to carry out in regions under intense shellfire.

Read more www.bbc.co.uk

Oct 9, 2013

Commissioner Muižnieks: Austerity measures weaken human rights protection in Spain.

Impact of the economic crisis and fiscal austerity measures on persons with disabilities. 

The Commissioner is worried about the serious impact that budgetary cuts have had on the living conditions of these persons and their social inclusion. No impact assessment of budgetary cuts on persons with disabilities has yet been carried out. The Commissioner is concerned about shortcomings in the implementati on of the 2006 law on personal autonomy and care for dependency, such as the strict categorisation of persons with disabilities according to their levels of diagnosed disability.



Austerity measures weaken human rights protection in Spain 


The Commissioner is also concerned by the fact that the economic crisis and financial restrictions have had a detrimental impact on most programmes and policies aimed at promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities on an equal footing with others, including measures to improve accessibility to general services.

Ospedale, Venezia ci ripensa: ottanta letti e primo intervento.

MALCESINE. La decisione nei giorni scorsi in V Commissione dopo la «battaglia» del sindaco, albergatori ed esercenti Modificate le schede originarie con l'aumento dei posti di riabilitazione, un primariato e un punto per le emergenze.
L'ospedale di Malcesine ha rischiato di essere chiuso ma il pressing sui politici ha fatto cambiare il piano
Continuare a leggere www.larena.it

Bomb in Pakistan targets anti-polio workers.

PESHAWAR: A police officer says a bomb exploded in northwest Pakistan near a vehicle carrying officials taking part in an anti-polio campaign, killing at least six people.

Oct 1, 2013

Polio Hits 2 South Sudan States.

September 30, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan health ministry has declared a national health emergency in the country following an outbreak of Polio, four years after is was declared free from the infection.

At least two cases, the country’s health minister said, were registered in Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Eastern Equatoria states. "We consider this a national health emergency", Riek Gai told reporters Monday.

Sep 27, 2013

Polio re-emergence in the EU can be prevented, concludes ECDC assessment.

The recent detection of wild-type polio virus 1 (WPV1) in sewage and asymptomatic carriers in Israel raises new questions on the potential for the importation and re-establishment of WPV in EU/EEA countries.

In the new rapid risk assessment, ECDC concludes that there is the possibility that poliovirus may be imported and re-established in the EU/EEA. 

Furthermore, based on the limited information on existing surveillance systems, there is a risk that poliovirus circulation will go undetected if it is imported.

Read more www.ecdc.europa.eu

Sep 25, 2013

Polio vaccine reminder for travellers to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Public Health England and National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) remind UK residents to make sure they are up-to-date with routine immunisations.
Travellers to Israel, or the West Bank and Gaza in Palestine, should also make sure they have had a polio containing vaccine in the past 10 years.

Read more www.gov.uk