If you want an example of why developed countries like the United States have to help poor countries to advance, look at the story of how polio has regained a foothold in Angola.
World health experts believed the fatal disease spread by contact with fecal matter had been eradicated since the U.N. World Health Organization started a successful vaccine plan in the late 1980's.
Since 2000, fewer than 2,000 cases were reported - and the number stayed level.
But civil war in Angola has caused a refugee crisis in and around the capital of Luanda. And the crumbling infrastructure there has caused a sanitation crisis and a rebirth of the disease.
Now Angola is believed to have one of the largest polio epidemics in Africa. But vaccinations, clean water, safe hygiene and better infrastructure are keys to beating the polio outbreak.
The Angolan government, UNICEF, WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are all working to immunize children considered to be at risk. But it shouldn't be left only to these organizations to help get vaccines distributed.
Last year, an airline passenger from the Dominican Republic nearly caused a panic when health authorities thought he transmitted cholera after arriving in Miami. Similar scares have occurred with air passengers thought to be carrying pandemic flu, tuberculosis and measles.
With the way people can easily cross oceans and borders, it's in the self-interest of all nations to help keep diseases like polio at bay.
07-Jan-11 - After years of being accused of not telling the entire truth in the Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, a task force of various local and federal law enforcement officials have now told CNN that they are actively pursuing leads in the 13-year-old homicide.
07-Jan-11 - After years of being accused of not telling the entire truth in the Notorious B.I.G.'s murder, a task force of various local and federal law enforcement officials have now told CNN that they are actively pursuing leads in the 13-year-old homicide.
06-Jan-11 - Robert Butler Jr. was found dead in his red Honda blocks from his new school with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after walking into the principal's office and shooting both the principal and vice principal.
06-Jan-11 - TMZ reports that Tiny (aka Tameka Cottle) confirmed that when she visited her hubby at an Arkansas federal corrections center, she took matters into her own hands when they were left alone in a room.
04-Jan-11 - Heroic Media, an Austin-based pro-life organization, is saturating billboards from Jacksonville, Fla., to Austin, Texas, with an insulting message that blatantly labels black women menaces to society.
29-Dec-10 - Nicole Mitchell Murphy, ex-wife of legendary comedian Eddie Murphy, is nearly flat broke and on the verge of losing the mansion awarded to her in her divorce settlement.
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Comments: (4)
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By: david 1111 on 1/25/2011 7:19PM
I'm not 'surprised' at all.
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By: Watermelon Man on 1/27/2011 1:00PM
Yuck.....africa is a dump! LoL
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By: laroywatermelon on 1/25/2011 7:55PM
where is africa?
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By: toliet paper user on 1/25/2011 8:11PM
In the bible Genesis 9: 21-27 states why negroes are 'cursed'.
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