was excited by the possibility of a disease free world. But since then, we’ve eradicated…

well, nothing. Not one human affecting disease and it’s not for lack of trying. Take polio

for example. We know how it spreads and we have the vaccine. So, why aren’t we able

to eradicate it?

Well, having the vaccine is only half the battle. And the other half, may involve creating

world peace. More than 90% of polio cases are asymptomatic, meaning that most people

who have polio don’t show symptoms or even know that they have the disease. So, we can’t

eradicate it entirely from the living population. All we can do is vaccinate people and hope

that the disease eventually starves out.

But that’s harder to do than you might think, because war torn countries and terrorist-controlled

areas are especially difficult to vaccinate. Many, impossible. The Taliban in Northern

Pakistan for example is currently boycotting international vaccination efforts as a way

of protesting US drone attacks.

They’re also suspicious of vaccination programs, because the CIA has a history of using them

as a cover for covert ops.

Adding to all of this, is the fact that polio spreads more quickly in areas with poor hygiene

and bad sanitation. So war torn nations, poverty stricken areas, and refugee communities are

all seeing an increase in the disease.

In 2012, there were 223 reported cases of polio. In 2013, that number rose to 417 new

cases, and 3/5th of those were in areas previously deemed “polio-free.” It’s spread from

Pakistan to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq, Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea, and the list goes on.

And all of those places are hot spots for violence, extremist groups, poverty, and conflicts

in general.

To have a real shot at truly eradicating polio or any other disease, we’d first have to

ban together to eradicate violence, oppression, and poverty worldwide. Which is no small feat.

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