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India on the verge of becoming polio-free country
Former Rotary International chief Kalyan Banerjee said the hope is to maintain a level of no cases of the disease for three years and then declare India polio-free. He said officials hope new cases of the disease will be considered at "zero level" in India by the end of 2005. NewKerala.com (India) (8/2)
India on the verge of becoming polio-free country
Kolkata : India is on the verge of becoming a polio free country as the number of new cases of the disease, afflicting children for ages, is expected to come down to zero by the end of this year.
'' We are hopeful that the new cases of polio will be at zero level by December. Our goal is to sustain it for three years before the country is declared free from polio,'' Mr Kalyan Banerjee, past Director of Rotary International said here yesterday.
Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the India visit of Mr.Frank J Devlyn, Chairman of Rotary International, Mr Mukherjee said the significant reduction in the incidence of the disease had been possible because of years of campaign and innoculation programme, ably supported by Rotary International.
'' This year only 23 cases--all from Bihar and UP- had been reported. This is very significant since earlier Bihar was the hub of the disease,'' he said.
The annual spending of Rotary International for polio eradication campaign in India was between Rs 10 to 15 crore. The money was largely spent on awareness posters, banners and leaflets.
Mr Banerjee said in its bid to help eradicate polio from all over the world, Rotary International had collected 600 million Dollars, of which the US contributed 1.7 billion dollars over a period of five years and the UK gave 110 million dollars last year.
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