2007-02-07 15:18:10

Staggering Increase In Polio Cases In India


(Wed.07,Feb,2007):- In India, there has been a staggering increase in the number of polio cases, which has earned the country the second position in the highest incidence of polio, after Nigeria. This revelation was made by a government report on Intensified Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme. It stated that India has witnessed a 909 per cent increase in polio cases. The report, which is based on statistics collected from about 27 states and union territories in India, says that 666 polio cases were identified last year. As per the report, there were eight states which were polio free, but reported fresh cases in 2006. These are Assam, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and West Bengal. According to World Health Organisation - WHO, as of April 1, 2003, 1,925 polio cases were reported from across the world. Eighty-five per cent of these cases were in India, of which, nearly 75 per cent of them were in Uttar Pradesh. In 2006, the Independent Expert Advisory Group on polio, had suggested that campaigns need to be accelerated in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, to eradicate polio from India. However, it seems that much has not been done in this direction ,as the situation in both the states remain more or less the same. Medical experts say that if India wants to realize its dream of making itself a polio-free nation, then the time has come for concerted action by all groups involved in this mission, and officials responsible for the present state of affairs need to be penalised.








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