Despite launching the largest ever mass immunisation campaign against polio in February 2003, targeting 165 million children, the battle against polio has not been won. To understand the causes of the repeated occurrence, we need to understand the profile of the wild polio virus.
The recent news that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has placed India on top of the world polio map, with 82 cases diagnosed till February this year, makes depressing reading. The success of the past years in bringing down the number of polio infections appears to have been reversed. More so since the other endemic countries, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, together reported only 23 cases in the same period.
Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has gone on record to say that his ministry is going to review “the entire polio programme”, pointing out that although it spent Rs 1,300 crore last year on the polio eradication programme, and this year’s budget allotment for the same is Rs 1,042 crore, the scenario was grim. Bihar, particularly, is showing up as a major worry area and Uttar Pradesh (UP) remains a problem state.
As for the statistics, the number of polio cases jumped from 268 in 2001 to 1,600 in 2002. In February 2003, India launched the largest ever mass immunisation campaign against polio, targeting 165 million children. But even in that year there were 225 cases, though in 2004 there was a significant drop to 136 cases. India recorded 864 polio cases in 2007, compared to 676 cases the previous year.
Well friends, this is really unfotunate..an alarming situation....
....plz make people aware about the disease and tell them importance of Polio vaccine.
Let's FIGHT POLIO!!
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