WHO's attempts to eradicate polio are thwarted in Africa and Asia

Outbreaks of polio in Yemen and Indonesia, and the threat of polio returning to troubled regions of Africa, have dealt a blow to the World Health Organization's polio eradication programme in what was meant to be the final year of a 17 year campaign.

A total of 63 cases of polio have been identified in Yemen, and last week four cases were confirmed in Indonesia.

Bruce Aylward, coordinator of WHO's global polio eradication programme, said that many of thepatients in the Yemen were paralysed. “Since polio only paralyses at most one child per …