Polio made a shocking return in our shores at the end of 2019 after a 27 year absence and thankfully, the disease outbreak is now over again!
The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday declared that the polio outbreak in Malaysia has ended in an official notification by the WHO representative office for Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore to our country’s Ministry of Health (KKM).
As reported by national news agency Bernama, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin clarified that the declaration by WHO was made after an evaluation team comprising of a panel of international experts had carried out comprehensive assessment of polio control and prevention measures done in Malaysia. In an official statement yesterday, Khairy asserted,
“Based on the assessment, Malaysia’s efforts in the control and prevention of the outbreak have been recognised as successful in stopping the spread of polio,”
Polio is an infectious disease caused by the polio virus which attacks the nervous system and could cause permanent paralysis as well as fatal respiratory failure. Previously, Malaysia has not recorded a single polio case for 27 years before its sudden reemergence at the end of 2019 when a polio case was detected in Sabah. Following the return of the disease that year, KKM intensified its polio prevention and control efforts and continued to do so despite the emergence of another scathing virus in 2020: Covid-19.
Thanks to the amazing work done by our frontliners in KKM, the polio outbreak is now officially over, but despite the achivement, Khairy urged Malaysians to remain vigilant as there are still countries that’s not yet free from the disease.
The Health Minister stressed,
“We need to ensure our polio immunisation coverage remains high to maintain herd immunity against the disease and for Malaysia to be protected from future threats.”
Khairy then congratulated Malaysia’s frontline heroes who have succeeded in ending the polio outbreak at a time when they are also fighting to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also read: YB Khairy: 3 Million Teenagers To Get Their Covid-19 Vaccine This Year
