India closest ever to eradicating polio: Govt

Only one polio case has been detected in the country in the past nine months,making it the longest polio-free period ever since eradication efforts were launched.

Only one polio case has been detected in the country in the past nine months,making it the longest polio-free period ever since eradication efforts were launched. Now closest ever to eradicating polio,the government has decided to treat any fresh case of polio as a public health emergency in order to achieve polio eradication from India at the earliest.

For the first time no case of polio has been reported from Uttar Pradesh (since April 2010) and from Bihar (since September 2010). No case of type 3 polio has come up for over a year, the Health Ministry said in a statement on the eve of the World Polio Day in New Delhi on Sunday.

A report of the Independent Monitoring Board for Polio constituted by the World Health Organisation also says India looks set to stop transmission of wild polio virus by year-end. India is the only endemic country that stands this chance. The disease is considered eradicated if no polio case is reported for three consecutive years.

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The country has not reported a single polio case in nine months but,more imaportantly,none for over a year in the endemic states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The only case it reported in 2011 was from Howrah in West Bengal in January. As many as 39 cases were reported in the country during the same period last year.

A meeting of the Global Polio Management Team,held in Geneva last week,hailed Indias success. In fact,the team comprising experts from the WHO,UNICEF,Rotary International and other agencies has decided to study the best practices adopted in India and commend these to other endemic countries.

Just two years ago,some would have found it inconceivable that India could get this close to eradicating polio. But these challenges have been understood,and seemingly overcome. India dealt well with its single 2011 case (in West Bengal), said a report of the monitoring board for polio presented at the meeting.

India is making great progress,and appears on track to stop polio transmission this year. Nigeria made strong progress in 2010,but has slipped backwards in 2011. Afghanistan continues to makes slow but steady progress. Pakistans programme is failing, said the report.

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These are the four endemic countries. Over the past one and a half years,three other countries have been re-infected with polio virus Angola,Chad and Congo.

We are close to our goal but are not taking any chances, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said. He added that the progress against the virus follows introduction of bivalent oral polio vaccine besides persistent efforts over the last few years in targeting highest risk areas.

With PTI,New Delhi

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