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India set for polio-free landmark | India set for polio-free landmark |
(about 3 hours later) | |
India is marking three years since its last reported polio case, a landmark in the global battle against the disease. | |
The milestone is seen as confirmation of one of India's biggest public health successes, achieved through a massive and sustained immunisation programme. | |
Only one case of polio was recorded in 2011, down from 741 in 2009. | Only one case of polio was recorded in 2011, down from 741 in 2009. |
In 2012 the World Health Organisation removed India from the list of polio-endemic countries. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria remain on it. | |
The list refers to countries in which the virus is circulating freely and the transmission of the infectious disease has not been stopped. | |
'Monumental milestone' | |
Despite India's success, health experts fear a resurgence of polio in other parts of the world. | |
After India's government declares the country polio-free on Monday, reports say the WHO will certify the status on 11 February after testing its last samples. | |
Nicole Deutsch, head of polio operations for the UN children's charity Unicef in India, described the country's landmark of three years without polio as "a monumental milestone". | |
"India has now set other important public health goals as a result of the confidence that the country has got from the successful eradication of polio," she told the AFP news agency, citing a new measles eradication goal. | "India has now set other important public health goals as a result of the confidence that the country has got from the successful eradication of polio," she told the AFP news agency, citing a new measles eradication goal. |
India's last case of polio was reported from the eastern state of West Bengal in 2011 when an 18-month-old girl was found to have contracted the disease. | |
Rukshar Khatoon is now going to school and leads a "normal life" although she still suffers pain in her right leg, her doctors and parents told AFP. | |
"She can now stand on her feet and walk, but can't run. When her friends play, she remains a spectator," her father Abdul Shah said. | "She can now stand on her feet and walk, but can't run. When her friends play, she remains a spectator," her father Abdul Shah said. |
Mr Shah said it had been a "grave mistake" only to get his son vaccinated for polio, but not his two daughters. | |
After the eradication of smallpox in 1980, polio is the second disease in India that has been eliminated through immunisation. | After the eradication of smallpox in 1980, polio is the second disease in India that has been eliminated through immunisation. |
Nearly 2.3 million volunteers visit 209 million homes to vaccinate some 170 million children under five years of age in India during every round of immunisation. | Nearly 2.3 million volunteers visit 209 million homes to vaccinate some 170 million children under five years of age in India during every round of immunisation. |
Polio is capable of causing crippling disability or death within hours. It plagued societies in ancient times - and was present in more than 100 countries even in the 1980s, when it left 350,000 people paralysed each year. | Polio is capable of causing crippling disability or death within hours. It plagued societies in ancient times - and was present in more than 100 countries even in the 1980s, when it left 350,000 people paralysed each year. |
Despite a quarter-century-long vaccination programme, experts fear it could make a comeback in countries riven by conflict. | |
Outbreaks in Syria and Somalia, where vaccination programmes have been disrupted, could hamper efforts to rid the world of the disease, | |
Polio immunisation efforts have been suspended in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan because of attacks by militants who see the campaign as a Western plot. | |
BBC correspondents say unless immunisation is re-started promptly, polio could infect more children, with a risk it could spread beyond Pakistan's borders to India. |