Click to play videoHowrah: India has completed one entire year without registering a single polio case in any part of the country. Bringing down the number from 2 lakh a year to zero is a commendable achievement and an example before other countries to follow. But there is hardly any room for complacency.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Ruksaar from Shahpara village in Howrah district is the last registered case of polio in India, and the credit goes to government health workers and the UNICEF. Her father Abdul Shah, who missed out on timely vaccination for Ruksaar, is now one of the strongest advocates of polio immunisation in his village.
"Some families argue that my daughter contracted polio from the vaccine itself. I tell them she got the disease because I did not not vaccinate her," says Abdul Shah.
Ruksaar is back on her feet. But the pulse polio immunisation drive in West Bengal isn't quite so. From convincing people with blocked mindsets to ensuring smooth service infrastructure, the road to a polio-free India is still slippery.
The government-appointed health workers have been working overtime in making this campaign successful.
And it shows as the number of polio cases have come down from 2 lakh a year to zero. India has reduced its global polio burden from 66 per cent to less than one per cent in the last five years.
But it's been no cakewalk. Battling popular perception like the vaccine may make children sterile in adulthood dominate the mindset. What's worse some even use the opportunity to bargain for rural amenities like roads and electricity.
"Of late we have been spending about Rs 1,000 crore only on pulse polio immunisation every year. But I think in totality India has spent more than Rs 12,000 crore on this programme," says Anuradha Gupta, Joint Secretary, Reproductive & Child Health, Union Health Ministry
"It is critical not to fall into the trap of complacency. We need to maintain our gains," adds Lieven Desomer, Head, Polio Unit, UNICEF
Lack of hygiene and undernourishment among Shahpura children have made them vulnerable to the deadly polio strain and for self-made polio crusaders like Abdul, it's still a long fight ahead.
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