India is close to eradicating the deadly polio type-1 (P1) virus, Chief of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative Dr Bruce Aylward has said.

The country can expect fewer polio cases in 2008 as compared to the last two years, with P1 nearing interruption and P3 outbreak curtailed. India is in the final stages of polio eradication and is getting closer to the national goal, he said. Aylward was in New Delhi on Thursday as part of the mid-term assessment of the impact of intensified eradication effort launched in the country.

He also met the officials of Union Health Ministry and was enthused with the progress.

“Nearly 12 months after WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan launched the intensified polio eradication effort, India is closest of the last four polio endemic countries to eradicating Type-1 (P1) virus with the lowest number of cases in the key reservoir areas,” he said.

At present, there are only 12 cases of P1 in Asia, four each in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, compared to over a 100 cases in Nigeria.

Among Asian countries, India is clearly the closest to stopping P1 as key areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have made tremendous progress in reducing P1 cases. “Not a single case of P1 has been reported from Uttar Pradesh this year and only one from Bihar.”

P1 transmission continues in reservoir areas of Pakistan’s Sindh province and Afghanistan’s southern region, Aylward told the officals.

Aylward reaffirmed that eliminating P1 would require responding to any new case with immediate and large-scale case response vaccination campaigns covering over two million children every time. This should be in addition to the intensive efforts in endemic areas and as part of the aggressive strategy.

... contd.