India marks first polio-free year; major achievement, says WHO

India is on course to be a polio-free nation, thanks to the millions of vaccinators, community mobilizers, Rotarians and parents who contributed to reach the milestone.

In what has been termed as the "greatest public health achievement" of India, the country on Friday will complete a full year without any polio incident being reported.

The country reported its last case of polio on January 13 last year, from Kolkata in West Bengal. The progress is remarkable considering in 2009 India with 741 cases accounted for nearly half the global cases.

Acknowledging the commendable effort at polio containment, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad said "we are excited and hopeful, at the same time, vigilant and alert".

"This giant leap towards polio containment in a short span of two years is an endorsement of India's tireless and persistent efforts. India has set an example with the highest level of political commitment to the programme," he said.

He cautioned that there is still no room for complacency and we need to ensure no case of polio infection for the next three consecutive years for India to celebrate eradication of poliomyelitis.

With India's achievement, the global polio eradication effort now focuses on improving the implementation of emergency operations plans in Chad, Nigeria and Pakistan.

"India was once recognized as the world's epicentre of polio. If all pending laboratory investigations return negative, in the coming weeks India will officially be deemed to have stopped indigenous transmission of wild poliovirus," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a release.

"India's achievement in stopping polio will save hundreds of thousands of children from lifelong paralysis or death each year," the UN agency said. "Poliovirus can travel easily to polio-free areas. Stopping polio in India will prevent a recurrence of the polio outbreaks – due to virus of Indian origin – seen in recent years in countries as diverse as Angola, Bangladesh, Nepal, Russia and Tajikistan."

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in each National Pulse Polio Immunization round, 24 lakh vaccinators under 1.5 lakh supervisors visit over 20 crore households to ensure that the nearly 17.2 crore children, less than five years of age, are immunized with Oral Polio Vaccine.

Further, mobile and transit vaccination teams immunize children at railway stations, at bus stands, market areas, construction sites etc. Around 50 lakh children are immunized by transit and mobile teams during every round in UP, Bihar and Mumbai alone.

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

"Stopping polio in India required creativity, perseverance and professionalism – many of the innovations in polio eradication were sparked by the challenges in India. The lessons from India must now be adapted and implemented through emergency actions to finish polio everywhere."

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake attributes India's remarkable progress in the fight against polio to the strong leadership of the Government of India and state governments, which launched a comprehensive polio eradication programme.

"India's achievement is proof positive that we can eradicate polio even in the most challenging environments – in fact, it is only by targeting these areas that we can defeat this evil disease," Lake said.

It was in the year 1994 the Indian Government launched the Pulse Polio Programme to eliminate the crippling viral disease which attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. The country has spent more than Rs 12000 crores on the campaign.