Rs 3203 cr sanctioned for polio eradication programme for three years

As the country continues to struggle with spurt in the cases of polio outbreaks, the centre has approved Rs 3203 crore for the eradication of polio for the next three years from the current financial year.

The cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval for implementation of the Polio eradication strategy with an estimated expenditure at Rs 3203.98 crore for the year 2009-2010 to 2011-12, according to the official statement. The main objective of the project is to achieve the goal of zero transmission of polio and obtaining international polio free certification for accomplishment of this goal, the annual strategy for polio eradication is decided on the basis of the recommendations of the India Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) consisting of national and international Experts. The IEAG has recommended a total of six National Immunization Day (NIDs), 9 Sub National Immunization Day (SNIDs), and 40 mop-up rounds for the period 2009-10 to 2011-12, the statement said.

However, the outbreak of the disease in areas like Western UP and some parts of Bihar continues to place India as the second most afflicted nation in the world, after Nigeria. The total number of cases went up to 676 in 2006, 874 in 2007 and 559 in 2008, though it came down drastically to 66 in 2005.

Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) was started in India in 1995-96. This is the largest public health intervention ever taken up anywhere in the world. The estimated number of children aged between 0-5 years to be vaccinated in a NIDs is around 172 million. The SNIDs, in the high risk states/areas will cover about 69 million children between 0-5 years. Mop Up immunization round will be undertaken in the districts and in the surrounding areas, where polio cases will be reported, covering about 7.5 million target population,

According to the latest statistics with the WHO monitoring cell, India ranked second in the case of polio cases last year, behind Nigeria which recorded 798 cases. This year, upto July 31, India reported 206 cases whereas Nigeria had 363 cases. Pakistan is standing way down on the third spot with 31 cases.link