{"id":589854,"date":"2014-03-28T17:58:57","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T09:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=589854"},"modified":"2014-03-28T17:58:57","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T09:58:57","slug":"who-80-of-world-population-now-polio-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/589854\/who-80-of-world-population-now-polio-free","title":{"rendered":"WHO: 80% of world population now polio-free"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AFP FILE PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n

MANILA, Philippines\u2014Eighty percent of the world\u2019s population is now polio-free, the World Health Organization said.<\/p>\n\n

This after 11 countries in Asia were certified by experts as polio free, joining six other WHO regions that have successfully eradicated the infectious disease.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis is a momentous victory for the millions of health workers who have worked with governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society and international partners to eradicate polio from the region,\u201d Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for the WHO Southeast Asia Region, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n

Singh and his experts, who constitute the Southeast Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE), reached a decision that all 11 countries in the region\u2014 Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor Leste, are now polio-free after evidence met the requirements for certification.<\/p>\n\n

The following conditions must be met for a WHO region to be declared as polio free:<\/p>\n