Polio in Somalia

Polio is a potentially crippling and deadly disease that is caused by a virus that spreads from person to person and invades the brain and spinal cord
Polio Cell

Symptoms:

•     Approximately 95% of people infected with polio will show no symptoms    
•   4-8% will show minor symptoms such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs, which usually disappear completely
• Fewer than 1% of polio cases result in permanent paralysis (most often the legs). 5-10% of those paralyzed die when respiratory muscles are succumbed to paralysis (CDC.gov)

 

How to recognize Polio paralysis 

 

Polio Precautions 
• 

Vaccine deemed safe and effective on April 12, 1955

•     The two vaccines include the inactivated polio vaccine (which is used in the US since 2000) and oral polio vaccine (which isn’t used in US but used throughout the world)

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•     Children should be vaccinated 4 times, the first at 2 months, then at 4 months, then at 6-18 monts, followed by a booster dose at 4-6 years.

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•     Adults should be vaccinated if they are 
•      1. Travelling to a polio high risk area, 
•      2. Working in a lab where the poliovirus may be handled, or
•      3. You are a health care worker treating polio patients (Dinge en Goete)

Polio in Somalia 

Demographics:

- Population of 10,251,168

- 43% of population is under 14 years of age

- Youth dependency ratio = 94.4%

Very high degree of risk of getting an infectious disease

- (Index Mundi - Somalia)

Polio Outbreak

Polio has paralyzed 25 kids in Somalia since May. Before this occurrence, Somalia had been Polio free for the last five years. The outbreak is due to poor sanitation and is rapidly spreading. The infected region is rural and is without a formal government. Political Economy and Environmental Determinism both play a role in where vaccines and other resources are available. Political Economy makes it hard for Somalians to access the vaccine because it is dangerous for people to go there to give it to them. The Environment is also having a direct affect on the health of the children.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/06/28/196615790/POLIO-SOMALIA

Political Ecology

-During economic and social warfare, getting necessary resources to people in need can be impossible, which is just one of the many side effects that come with poverty. Problems like these need to be analyzed on the upstream because helping one area will only make things better temporarily.
Somalia troops are fighting Islam radicals who have pledged allegiance with Al Qaeda. Tanks are crossing the Ethiopian border and Somalia is taking the offensive. They are making progress but taking heavy losses. 

Somalia