(Jan. 18, 2012) India, once a major sufferer from polio, has achieved a major milestone
with not a single new case reported for a year, health experts said recently. Lieven
Desomer, head of the polio unit at UN children’s agency UNICEF in India said a concerted
government campaign against wild polio, made it possible in a country which had recorded
150,000 polio cases in 1985. He said a new and more efficient oral vaccine against
the affliction introduced in 2010 also contributed greatly. In 2010, 42 cases were
registered in comparison with 741 the previous year. “It is a big achievement and
a good development but that does not mean we can relax at this point”, said Fr.
Mathew Abraham, Secretary, Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India’s health care office.
“We have to work harder to eradicate the disease completely as it can resurface any
time,” he said. Fr. Abraham said that the Catholic Church was part of the government’s
initiative to fight polio and it will remain as a partner. Being the second largest
health provider after the government, the Church has always been in the forefront
in the fight against any kind of disease, he added. Fr. Tomi Thomas, the Director
General of CHAI - the Catholic Health Association of India said “This achievement
goes to prove that any health issue, however big it may be, can be easily tackled
with persistent effort and commitment.”