No polio cases reported for one year in the country

Agencies

 

New Delhi, 13 January 2012: India has marked a significant milestone, with no new polio cases reported for one year. It’s a result of a massive health programme,the routine pulse polio immunisation program. In the last few years India has mobilized 24 lakh volunteers and 1.5 lakh front line workers in an effort that’s cost a 1000 crore rupees every year.

 

"It’s a big milestone - considering that there was a time when India had more than 200 thousand cases every year," Joint secretary in the Union Health Ministry Anuradha Gupta said.

 

UNICEF Polio Unit Head Lieven Desomer said, "When you look back at 1988, 350 million thousands kids were affected with polio globally."

Two year old Baby Rukhsaar in Howrah, West Bengal was the last case of polio detected in the country. Once a sceptic, her father Abdul Shah is now a huge advocate for immunisation.

 

"I regret not getting my child vaccinated. Now I tell other people not to make the same mistake," Abdul Shah said.

 

More than 17 crore children are immunized in each national round of polio vaccination - but that’s not the only challenge.

 

"We have polio virus in neighbouring countries, like we recently had virus from Pakistan travelling to china. So the threat of importation is very much real," Anuradha Gupta said.

 

India needs to keep its guard up, but we’re on the verge of leaving a not-so-select club comprising Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan - the other three countries where polio is endemic.