ZERO POLIO CASES RECORDED IN 2011 IN INDIA-WHO

NEW DELHI: India's name has been struck off a shame list that the country hopes will not include it in the future. The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken India, which in 2009 had more polio cases than any other nation in the world, off its polio endemic list after not a single case of the crippling disease was reported for over a year.

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made the announcement on Saturday at a function where Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was also present. Now, only Pakistan, Nigeria andAfghanistan are on the list as India has achieved a hard-fought success after years of sustained effort by the government, international agencies and dedicated medical professionals.

For the next two years, if India does not report any polio cases, it will be officially called "polio free" and Azad said that "WHO has taken India's name off the list of polio endemic countries in view of the remarkable progress that we have made during the past one year. Let us today resolve to make India polio free by 2014."

India's last case of polio was reported on January 13, 2011, from West Bengal.

Working to eradicate polio, thousands of volunteers have slogged in densely populated areas with poor hygiene and battled social and religious prejudice. It has meant working under difficult conditions and convincing local leaders, including religious figures, to support the anti-polio campaign.

According to the PM, the real credit for this major achievement goes to the 23 lakh volunteers who repeatedly vaccinated children "even in the most remote areas, often in very bad weather conditions. I commend each one of them for their dedication, for their commitment and for their selfless service."

India recorded 741 cases of polio in 2009 - nearly half the number of global cases. But in a remarkable turn of events, India reported one case of the crippling disease last year and recorded zero cases in over 12 months since then.

Globally, the fight against polio received a major impetus last year with India's successful containment of the virus. India's polio success led to a 34% decline in cases of paralytic polio in 2011 globally compared with the same period in 2010 (505 cases compared with 767 cases).

Also, cases due to the P1 strain of the virus - the more dangerous strain - declined by 35% (444 cases compared with 692), while cases due to the P3 strain dipped by 18% (61 cases compared with 75 cases).

However, while India was seeing numbers plummet, the other three polio endemic countries recorded a massive increase in their polio cases. In Nigeria, 2011 saw a fourfold increase in cases compared to the same period in 2010. Afghanistan and Pakistan suffered a 135% and 22% increase in cases, respectively - 20 cases compared to 47 cases, and 111 cases compared to 136 cases, respectively.

Since January 2010, 19 countries have had outbreaks of polio due to ongoing or new importations.

India has increased surveillance against polio along the Line of Control (LOC), bordering Pakistan which has recorded a major spurt in polio cases. Vaccination booths have been set up at Chakdabagh (Poonch) and Kaman (Baramulla) in Jammu and Kashmir, Munabao railway station in Rajasthan's Barmer district and at Wagah border and Attari railway station in Punjab to administer polio drops to all children below five years coming in from Pakistan.

The World Health Organisation lauded India for achieving a 'zero-polio' record in the last one year and the country on Friday carried its fight against the crippling disease to hospitals and health care centres across the country where parents brought their children for vaccination.

The World Health Organisation has commended India's one year of being a 'polio-free nation', calling it a major achievement.

"India's success is arguably its greatest public health achievement and has provided a global opportunity to push for the end of polio," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement.

"Stopping polio in India required creativity, perseverance and professionalism. The lessons from India must now be adapted and implemented through emergency actions to finish polio everywhere," Chan said.

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the country is vigilant yet alert.

"We are excited and hopeful, at the same time vigilant and alert," Azad said in a statement. Jan 13 marks one full year when the country has reported no new polio case.

WHO also stressed on the need to remain vigilant.

"There remains no room for complacency. India must maintain sensitive surveillance and high childhood immunity against the wild polio virus to guard against any importation of polio until eradication is achieved globally," the WHO statement added.

The country has spent more than Rs.12,000 crore on the Pulse Polio Programme. It took a lead in introducing bivalent polio vaccine (bOPV) in January 2010.

WHO in fact called the scale on India's polio programme "mind-boggling".

"The scale of the eradication effort in India is mind-boggling" says WHO, "each year, more than 170 million children under the age of 5 are vaccinated in two national immunization campaigns, with up to 70 million children in the highest-risk areas vaccinated multiple times in additional special campaigns; the whole effort requires nearly a billion doses of oral polio vaccine annually".

The last new polio case in India was reported Jan 13, 2011, involving a two-year-old girl in West Bengal. In 2010, there were 42 cases, as compared to 741 in 2009, which accounted for nearly half of the world's polio cases. In 1991, there were 6,028 cases and in 1985 the number stood at 150,000.

"The progress is indeed remarkable, considering that in 2009, India with 741 cases accounted for nearly half the global cases. This giant leap towards polio containment in a short span of two years is an endorsement of India's tireless and persistent efforts," Azad stressed.

Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the country should take the fight against the disease ahead with its vigilance programmes and national immunisation programme.

"India should be most concerned about complacency, which can undo a lot of the strong progress that has been achieved," said Hamid Jafari, the project manager of the WHO-National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP).