Competition Over Polio in South Asia – Divya Madhusudhan

Since the introduction of the oral vaccine for paralytic polio in 1952, the number of cases of this disease has dramatically decreased in many countries in the Western Hemisphere.⁵ However, polio was (and is) still prevalent in other countries well into the late twentieth century, despite available vaccines.⁵ Two countries that have suffered from polio even into 2012 include India and Pakistan. Recently, however, an article by Brian Padden described how India has reached a milestone in relation to this disease; in February of 2012, India recorded no new polio cases in the country for one year.³ India has now been officially removed from the list of polio-endemic countries and will need to go another two years without cases of the disease to be regarded as polio-free. With India off the polio endemic list, only Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria remain.⁴ India’s recent advance in confronting polio seems as though it will have interesting effects on its neighboring country, Pakistan, with regard to how Pakistan handles polio.

In the same year that India was removed from the polio endemic list, Pakistan recorded 180 new polio cases, which was the highest for any country. Authorities in Pakistan state that their national pride is now in jeopardy with respect to polio eradication.³ Since the partition of these two countries, the relationship between them has been uneasy.¹ I think it is interesting how the progress of one country in terms of disease eradication will push a neighboring country to do the same because of national pride. The competition that arises between two countries that have an uneasy relationship can be positive in terms of public health, as is evident with Pakistan’s response to India’s progress with controlling polio. In fact, the competition with India has resulted in Pakistan’s political opponents uniting to make polio eradication a national emergency.³ Thus, competition has spurred steps to improve the polio condition in Pakistan.

I think it is important for countries to set aside their tensions to help each other out, at least when it comes to health-related issues and diseases. In Padden’s article³ however, I saw that, in fact, national pride and competition can work equally as well to improve health conditions, especially at government level.When a country’s government takes up a greater interest in controlling a disease, disease control programs become more effective and more funding and support are put into researching and making medicines. The fact that there is competition between countries regarding health care systems on the other hand does not surprise me as much. Competition between health care systems drives companies to be more selective with respect to the scientists they hire to do research and drives health care reforms ² Thus, this also improves the overall health and treatment for patients in a country but would still not have as much of an impact as government involvement would. Overall, competition based purely on needing to maintain the same health level as a rival country is subtle,.

When India pulled ahead in its polio eradication program, Pakistan was motivated to improve its polio condition as well, despite setbacks of natural disasters and war.³ This idea provides a unique way to analyze improvement of disease levels in various countries. If one country observes that the health problems in a rival country are improving with the same amount of aid that they too are receiving, then that country may be more motivated to improve its own condition by using its aid more efficiently and having the government more involved. Thus, the recent polio milestone in India and Pakistan’s reaction to the event leads to interesting theories about a potential way to handle and improve health and disease in various countries.

References

 1. Husian, Ishrat. India, Pakistan: a comparison. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

2. Lechleiter, John. Competition for Health: An International Perspective. Lilly. 7 July 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

3. Padden, Brian. India’s Success Fighting Polio Motivates Rival Pakistan. Voice of America. 20 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

4. Walsh, Fergus. India no longer polio endemic says WHO. BBC News. 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.

5. Polio. National Network for Immunization Information. 13 Feb. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2012.