60 per cent kids covered on Day 1 of campaign
About 24.39 lakh children below five years of age were administered polio drops in Haryana as the first national immunisation round of Pulse Polio 2014 began in all districts of the State.
The polio drops were administered to the children at specially set up booths to wipe out polio from the State. 60 percent of the targeted children have been covered on the first day of the three-day campaign. This campaign will continue for another two days when the teams would go from house to house to administer polio drops to the children who could not come to the booths.
In order to smoothly carry out this campaign, a total of 16,669 booths were set up in the State and these were manned by about 66,000 health officials, volunteers, anganwadi workers and ASHA workers.
About 3,300 officers and officials supervised the activity apart from independent monitors of PGIMS Rohtak and National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP) of World Health Organisation.
The spokesperson said that the left out children during the booth activity on first day will be administered polio vaccine drops on January 20, 21 through house-to-house teams.
During this round, special attention will be paid to high risk areas like slums, isolated hutments, brick kilns, floating or migrating population and construction sites so that no child is left uncovered in these areas. About 1,500 mobile teams will be working during the campaign to cover all children in poorly approachable areas.
“It is important to know that wherever pockets of children remain un-immunised, the poliovirus sustains survival and circulation. With every successive round of pulse polio immunisation, the areas of poliovirus circulation get reduced,” he added.
59,000 children below five given drops
About 59,000 children below five years of age have been administered polio drops on Sunday in the union territory of Chandigarh.
“National Immunisation Days (NID) for vaccination against polio will be observed in Chandigarh from January 19-21. Convergence reaches its peak as international teams concerned with polio eradication, also landed in Chandigarh for the same,” said a spokesperson of UT Administration.
The spokesperson said, “World Health Organisation (WHO) monitoring teams/other agencies have chipped in to ensure 100 per cent coverage of all the children of 0-5 years of age during the first day of National Immunization Day (NID) round 2014 in the city.”
Chandigarh has been polio free since 2006. The last case of wild polio virus was detected in Chandigarh from Mazdoor Colony. However, later on, no case of wild polio virus has been detected, in spite of the increasing number of Acute Flaccid Paralysis cases being reported in higher numbers, said the spokesperson.
Anil Kumar, UT Secretary Health, while speaking at a booth in EWS Colony Dhanas, expressed his gratitude to the vaccinators for their dedication and putting the nation before self.
He also said that the provision of better living conditions as has been done by the Administration by providing pucca accommodation at EWS Colony, Dhanas to people previously residing in slums, will go a long way in decreasing incidence of illness, among the downtrodden.
Dr SK Bhalla, UT Director Health Services, further, showed his concern that at this time any relaxation to eradicate polio can prove dangerous and shall increase the financial burden on the country.
The strict monitoring is being carried out by WHO. Also, the Rotary International team members could be seen working shoulder to shoulder with the teams from the Health department at the ground level, said Dr Bhalla.
WHO to soon certify India as polio-free: Surjit Kumar
Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani on Sunday said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) will soon certify India as a polio-free country.
“India no longer figures in the list of active polio virus transmission country,” he said while inaugurating a State-level Pulse Polio vaccination drive.
“The WHO will soon issue polio-free country certificate to India,” said Jayani, adding that no case of polio has been reported in Punjab since 2010.
In view of polio cases in Pakistan, transit teams have been set up at Wagah-Attari border to ensure vaccination of children crossing the border, the Minister said.
Over 15,000 booths have been set up across Punjab for vaccination of 37.69 lakh children of 0-5 years age group.
Congratulating on formal launching of the Pulse Polio campaign by administering the polio drops to children, Jayani said, “During the last four years in Punjab, not even a single case of polio has been noticed and the Health Department is running this campaign successfully. In Punjab, 15,000 booths have been set up for giving polio drops to 0-5 years and those children not covered through booths, will be vaccinated by door-to-door visits.”
He said that with regular efforts of Health department, no case of polio was reported in Punjab since 2010. “More than 30000 house-to-house teams and to supervise those more than 3,000 supervisors are also deputed by the Department. In all, over 70,000 vaccinators have been involved in service delivery in current round,” he added.
The Health Minister also made an appeal to parents to bring their children to polio vaccination booth to save them from this incurable disease.