Expressing satisfaction over immunisation measures and the subsequent decline in polio cases in India, the WHO has said that India will be polio free soon.
NEW DELHI: Expressing satisfaction over effective immunisation measures and the subsequent decline in polio cases in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that India will be polio free soon.
Congratulating Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss for receiving the Polio Champion Award from Rotary International, director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Margaret Chan said the polio eradication drive has achieved the desired effect in the last six months.
"With your (Ramadoss) continued leadership and sustained political and financial support from the governments of India, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 2007 to 2008, I am confident that India will soon become polio-free and attain a historic milestone," Chan said.
The statement from WHO was released by the health ministry on Thursday.
In the last nine months India has reported only 241 cases of polio, compared to 676 cases in 2006. Of the 241 cases reported till September 21, 190 cases were from Uttar Pradesh and 37 from Bihar.
While Andhra Pradesh has reported five cases, Uttarakhand has three, Haryana and Maharashtra two each, and Gujarat and Rajasthan have reported one case each.
The WHO director general also praised India and Ramadoss for substantially eradicating the most virulent Type-1 poliovirus this year.
Last year, most of the polio cases reported in India were due to the Type-1 virus, which spreads very fast among close-knit communities.
"I want to reassure you that the strategic focus on combating Type-1 poliovirus, even while there is a focal outbreak of Type-3 polio in some districts this year, has been effective.
"Polio in India is now primarily restricted to a few districts in two states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and there has been a sharp decline in the number of Type-1 polio cases in 2007," Chan said.
Of the total cases reported this year, only 60 cases are of the dreaded Type-1 virus and rest are due to the Type-3 virus.
He further said that the WHO "stands ready to assist" India in its "efforts to deliver a perpetual gift of a polio-free world to all its children".
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