| Poliomyelitis or Polio is an infectious
disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system. It can result in
total paralysis within a few hours. Polio may strike at any age, but
usually affects children below the age of three. According to the World Health Organization,
there were 660 confirmed cases of Poliomyelitis in
India
in
2006.
The Indian
Government began a vaccination drive against polio in 1978. Considerable
success was achieved in the drive by giving three doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to infants. At present, most
parts of the country have become polio free. Widespread transmission is
restricted only to the States of
Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh.
National and State agencies: The National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP) at
the national level assists in planning and implementing polio immunization
activities aimed at eliminating polio from India. The Centre decides the
general policy framework for polio immunization while the States follow
their own models to fight the disease, as health is a State subject in the Indian Constitution. Besides the government, a number
of national and international agencies are engaged in the process of
eradicating polio globally. Prominent among these are UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, World Health Organization and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
For more details click on the
links cited below:
|
