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The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the first time that South-East Asia is now free polio. The WHO certified 11 countries as being clear the killer disease. The WHO website said: "This is the fourth six WHO regions to be certified, marking an important step global eradication polio – a highly infectious virus that attacks the nervous system and can cause total paralysis a matter of hours. this step, 80 per cent of the world's population now lives in certified polio-free regions." One the newly-certified countries is India, which as recently as 2009, was home almost 50 per cent of the world's polio cases. India hasn't seen a single polio case the last three years.

Polio is currently an incurable disease. It leads paralysis of the limbs and eventually kills anyone who contracts it. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director the WHO, said: "This is a momentous victory the millions of health workers who have worked governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society and international partners to eradicate polio the region." She added: "It is a sign what we can bequeath our children when we work together." Dr Singh also cautioned becoming complacent the fight the disease. She said: "Until polio is globally eradicated, all countries are risk and the region's polio-free status remains fragile."