Why Polio immunisation is a must

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

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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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

“Access to aids can make a huge difference to polio survivors”

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

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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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. Photo Credit: Polio Australia. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

The Invisible people – asylum seekers

1 Comment read Features, Migration

The writer was a finalist in the 2020 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Communications Public Interest Award for this story

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12 October 2019 (The Week): Australia is a sought-after destination for Indian students, travellers and skilled migrants from India, but it is a little-known fact that Indians also come here to seek asylum.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), population statistics based on data received from the Australian government, 51 asylum seekers from India in Australia were found to be refugees in 2018. Many of them are waiting to be resettled; others have been waiting for their asylum claims to be processed, some for six years or more, in Australia’s offshore immigration facilities in the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru.

Nisar Ahmad Haji, an Indian national from Kashmir who was processed as a refugee in October 2015, is still waiting to be resettled. A refugee is someone, who has been recognised under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to be a refugee.

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