Pratibha Patil launches Pulse Polio campaign
Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Saturday administered polio vaccine drops to seven children at Rashtrapati Bhawan here.
The President was launching the National Pulse Polio Programme for 2011 on Saturday.
She had introduced the Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine in the National Immunization Programme for the first time in January 2010.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stated that ?Polio Free India? is now an achievable goal.
He said the last six months have seen the lowest number of polio cases during the high transmission season of any year since polio eradication efforts were started in India.
Only 42 polio cases have been detected in 2010 (as on 3 January 2011) compared to 741 cases of polio in 2009. The number of affected districts has declined to 17 in 2010 from 56 in 2009 and 90 in 2008. Uttar Pradesh has reported 10 polio cases in 2010 as compared to 602 cases last year. UP has not reported any polio case since April 2010.
