Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:-

(a) whether a number of polio cases have been reported in the country during 2007 and so far during 2008 and the number of such cases reported from the States of U.P. and Bihar is quite high;

(b) the number of polio cases reported during 2007 and so far during 2008, States wise;

(c) whether the reasons for this state of affairs have been evaluated and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the steps taken/ proposed to be taken to tackle the problem? 

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE
(SMT. PANABAKA LAKSHMI)

(a) Yes Sir. Number of Type 3 Polio case reported in 2007 and so far in 2008 is high in comparison to Type 3 polio cases reported in 2006.But number of Type 1 polio cases reported during same period is quite low in UP and Bihar.
(b)The number of Polio cases reported during 2007 and so far in 2008 is annexed.

(c) Yes Sir. National Polio Eradication Programme was reviewed by the India Expert Advisory Group on polio (IEAG) comprising of National and International Experts from World Health Organization (WHO), United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta on 19-20th December, 2007. The observations of IEAG are as under:

• Due to accelerated immunization rounds & use of monovalent oral polio vaccine 1(mOPV1) in 2007, wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) transmission is at low level.
• The population immunity against WPV1 among children in India is high.
• The ‘core’ districts of western Uttar Pradesh (in Moradabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh and Bareilly sub-divisions) have not reported WPV1 since November 2006.

The IEAG Recommended that in the first half of 2008 the activities should be undertaken with the objective of interrupting WPV1 transmission in the low transmission season, while maintaining good control of wild polio virus type 3 (WPV3).

(d) Following steps have been taken by the Government to tackle the problem :-

 -    National Immunization days were implemented in January and February, 2008. mOPV1 was used in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and other high risk States and Districts and tOPV in other areas.

-     Sub National Immunization Round was undertaken in March 2008 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Mumbai and other areas at risk using mOPV3 on 30th March, 2008.

-     MoP Up immunization rounds have been implemented in response to detection of Wild polio virus in the state of Maharashtra, Haryana, Orissa.

-     5 more Sub National Round is planned for implementation in UP, Bihar and other areas at risk during April, June, July, September and October, 2008.

To ensure quality of immunization rounds and to achieve high coverage following actions are taken:-

• Migratory populations from UP and Bihar are being identified in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and these migratory children are being covered during the SNID in UP and Bihar starting from August, 2007.
• In the States of UP and Bihar every new born child is being identified and vaccinated during the polio immunization campaigns and is being tracked for 8 subsequent rounds.
• In order to reach every eligible child during the pulse polio round, apart from the strategy of vaccinating children at fixed booths and house to house visits, efforts in vaccinating children in transit at railway stations, inside long distance trains, major bus stops, market places, religious congregations, major road crossings etc. through out the country have been intensified.

Social Mobilization activities are being intensified by involving the local influencers, community and religious leaders to improve community participation and acceptance of polio vaccine.

ANNEXURE