If you have been following Middle Eastern and South Asian news for the last few years you have probably read something about polio. 

No, not Ebola or AIDS, which usually hit the headlines, but polio. 

Now you may think, wait a minute, haven’t we cured that disease? It sounds like something that plagued the 1800s. The answer in the U.S. is that for the most part it is no longer an issue, but nations in political strife are a long ways off. 

In fact, Pakistan is one of three states that still have issues with polio, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria. Pakistani newspaper Dawn described polio as their “badge of shame.”

One major explanation of this endemic is related to the Taliban’s influence in the region. In Taliban-controlled areas of Pakistan, polio vaccinators are harassed and in constant danger. After the operation that ended with the death of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban often believe that polio workers are providing intelligence to the U.S. government, according to BBC. The result is that almost every month a worker is gunned down or assaulted. 

What makes matters worse is that even families do not want their children vaccinated. The explanation is once again attributed to the Taliban’s influence as they spread rumors that the west is trying to sterilize Pakistan. In cities such as Karachi where there is limited sanitation for sewages it is no wonder that disease runs rampant. 

Families will often say things such as, “Why should we treat polio? Why not other diseases? Who are we trying to impress, the Americans?” After all, why should Pakistanis care about how Americans perceive them?

The fact is, in a world almost rid of polio, Pakistan stubbornly remains in danger. The New York Times reported that “last year, 306 new polio cases were reported in Pakistan, breaking the country’s previous record high of 199 new cases in 2000.”

One might argue that Pakistanis have a right to health and that it is not just Pakistan’s problem, but the United Nations’ for sinking costs into the immunization of the virus. With the U.S. acting as hegemon for the last 70 years, we ought to do something to help fix the problem. 

So what should the U.S. be doing? To start, we could help provide aid to U.N. institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), International Red Cross, and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). Throwing money at the problem is never a perfect solution without experts in the field, but it certainly helps get the wheels turning. 

It would be unrealistic to expect the U.S. military to come in running and gunning on the offense against the Taliban, and fortunately the Pakistani government has started to take military action on their own. We will have to wait and see just how much action Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif actually takes. While U.S. – Pakistan relations are rocky, the Inter-Service Intelligence agency (ISI) of Pakistan has an even rockier history with the Taliban.  

I wouldn’t expect Pakistan to take care of the issue right away, but workers are hopeful for a change.

While the U.S. continues to deal with a bundle of diplomatic issues ranging from Iran to India, it would be absurd to think we will see American boots on the ground to provide protection. 

Instead, this battle needs to be fought with diplomacy and in the offices of the U.N.