President launches pulse polio immunization programme

President Pranab Mukherjee has launched the Pulse Polio Immunization(PPI) Programme by administering polio drops to children at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

It was launched by President ahead of the National Immunization Day which is observed on 18 January.

PPI Programme is a Government drive to sustain polio eradication from the country. As part of it children less than 5 years of age are given polio vaccine drops.

Background:

• Since 1995, India has been implementing the Pulse Polio Immunization Programme.

• On 27 March 2014, India and 7 other Asian countries were declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

• 7 other Asian countries are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives and Myanmar.

• It should be noted that WHO declares any country polio free if no case is reported for three consecutive years.

Key facts about Polio :

• Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children below age of 5.

• Transmission: The virus is transmitted from person-to-person. It mainly spreads through the faecal-oral route (e.g. contaminated water or food). After entering body, it multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

• Symptoms: Initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In some cases, it causes permanent paralysis. There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunization.

More About Pulse Polio Immunization:

In the pursuance of the World Health Assembly resolution of 1988, the Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) Programme was started nation-wide from 1995 to eradicate polio in India covering children in the age group 0-3 years. In order to accelerate the Pace of polio eradication, all children under the age of 5 years 78 were targeted since 1996-97. The annual strategy on polio eradication is decided on the basis of recommendation of India Experts Advisory Group (IEAG) which constituted of Indian experts; and international experts from World Health Organization (WHO), United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) & Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta.

• Of the 3 types of polio causing viruses, type 2 (WPV-2) has already been eradicated in 1999.

• The bivalent vaccine (bOPV) was introduced in the country for the first time in 2010.

• On 13th January the nation reached a major milestone in the history of polio eradication – a year without any case of wild polio being recorded.

• As India reached this ‘no wild case’ mark, it will no longer be considered ‘endemic’ to polio. Following this, the World Health Organisation removed India from the list of endemic nations.