Empowering Polio Survivors
By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 23.10.2024 (SciDev.Net): Every year, 24 October is observed as World Polio Day, while the whole month is designated to raising awareness of the disease. Polio or poliomyelitis is a highly infectious, crippling and sometimes even fatal disease, which mainly affects children under five, and can be prevented with a vaccine. In 1988, the World Health Assembly, WHO’s decision-making body, committed to eradicating polio and this is close to being achieved.
Continue reading →Neena Bhandari speaks to SBS Hindi: “Polio still poses a threat because of the nature of global travel, any under-vaccinated area could potentially be at risk even in countries like Australia where polio has long since been eradicated…..Polio is only a flight away because there is a pool of unvaccinated people in Australia.”
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Continue reading →By Neena Bhandari
It was a meek October morning in 1967, only a month away from my third birthday, I had worn my frilled frock and white laced shoes to go and receive the triple polio vaccine. As I sang and danced along the way, making it difficult for my maternal grandfather to keep pace, little did I know that it was the last time I would be walking by myself.
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Sydney, 14.03.2023 (Allergy and Respiratory Republic): Basic lung function tests could go a long way in preventing complications in polio survivors as they age. These patients often require specific respiratory assessment and recommendations for physiotherapy, orthotics and assistive technology to manage their condition, experts say.
Continue reading →By Neena Bhandari
Sydney, 16.02.2023 (The Medical Republic): While Australia was declared polio-free in 2000, there is a major need to invest in medical care of many of the tens of thousands of people, who contracted poliomyelitis (polio) during the 20th century polio epidemics and are now experiencing what is known as the “Late Effects of Polio” (LEoP) and its subset, the Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS).
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Continue reading →Neena Bhandari speaks to SBS Hindi
Australia was declared Polio free in 2000. Journalist Neena Bhandari, who had polio as a child says “Polio still poses a threat and is only a flight away. Most people, especially migrants who have arrived in recent years, find it very difficult to get diagnosed for PPS or Late Effects of Polio and then find the right doctor, physiotherapist, orthotists, aged care services.”
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Continue reading →By Neena Bhandari
A Cancelled flight, a lost suitcase, a stolen wallet are exigencies we may plan for while travelling, but I had never considered the possibility of an unexpected injury, until it happened during one of my annual sojourns in India. It revealed the dichotomy between the avant-garde and primitive modes of transport and healthcare facilities that exist in the country.
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The Indian Government, Non-Governmental Organisations and the larger community must invest in rehabilitating millions of polio survivors facing new physical, social, cultural and economic challenges.
India was certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation on 27 March 2014. Polio immunisation has been a great success story of public-private health partnership, but now we need to replicate this to improving the lives of people living with polio.
Continue reading →By Neena Bhandari
New Delhi, 31.03.2014 (BMJ): As India celebrates three years of being polio free there is an urgent need to invest in medical care for the thousands of people who made the most of life after having had poliomyelitis but are now facing the debilitating post-polio syndrome (PPS).1 2 PPS describes the sudden onset of muscle weakness or fatigability in people with a history of acute paralytic poliomyelitis, usually occurring 15 to 40 years later.3 Many thousands of …
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