Health News
India close to eradicating polio, minister says
Oct 24, 2011, 10:35 GMT
New Delhi - India is the close to eradicating polio, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Monday to mark World Polio Day.
There has not been a single recorded case for the past nine months, the longest polio-free period since the global eradication campaign was launched.
'We are close to our goal but are not taking any chances,' Azad said. 'Efforts will be further intensified in the country to stop any residual polio-virus circulation and also to prevent any polio cases following an international importation.'
The only case reported this year was in the state of West Bengal in January 2011, the ministry said.
Health officials said any fresh case of polio would be dealt with as a public health emergency.
Among the few countries where polio is endemic, India's cases dropped from 200,000 in 1985 to 50,000 a decade later. 2010 proved to be the 'turning point' with only 42 polio cases being reported, the health ministry said.
No cases had been reported from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states, which used to report hundreds of cases each year.
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