Polio vaccinators brave floods in eastern India

Early one morning in August, a team of polio eradication workers stood by the burst banks of the Kosi river, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. The flood waters of the river had surrounded Garu, a small hamlet they were trying to reach. Despite the dangers of monsoon season rivers, they procured a boat, made it to Garu and vaccinated children there on the second day of the sub-national immunization days. 
Read full report from the polio partners in India (pdf)

With 19 of Bihar's 38 districts in the grip of the floods, vaccinators and social mobilisers in Bihar resorted to boats and wading through water to reach children during the August vaccination rounds. In other areas, floods forced the cancellation of activities in 46 primary health care centres, depriving over 2 million children of oral polio vaccine. More than 12 million people were affected in the floods. There is considerable risk of poliovirus transmission in times of flooding, compounded by lowered immunity in children who cannot be reached with vaccine. 

India's National Polio Surveillance Project assesses that there is a potential risk of the spread of the virus to other districts following the floods in Bihar, as happened in 2004. However, the increased number of vaccination rounds in Bihar during the first 8 months of the year is expected to limit virus transmission this year. It is essential that the pressure on the polio virus is maintained during the remainder of 2007 through high quality, frequent immunization rounds with mOPV1 with special emphasis on high coverage in the high-risk districts. 

18 August 2007

Indian Minister of Health honoured for polio eradication work

From left to right: India's Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss with Chairman of Rotary Foundation Robert Scott.

In recognition of his commitment to eradicating polio worldwide, Rotary International today presented Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, India’s minister of health and family welfare, with its Polio Eradication Champion Award. 

"On behalf of Rotary’s 1.2 million members worldwide, I am honored to present this award to Dr. Ramadoss,” said Robert Scott, chairman of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. “His support and involvement in this program has been integral to the progress achieved so far, and will remain vital to until polio is eradicated.” 

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Ramadoss said " I have received half the award today and the other half when we do away with polio." Under the minister's leadership, the Government of India has pushed type 1 polio into a steep decline and supported polio eradication activities with over $290 million in domestic financing in 2007. More

9 August 2007

Photo report from Darfur: 5 million children vaccinated in Sudan 

El Genina, Sudan - Sudan recently held mass polio vaccination campaigns in a bid to protect its children from poliovirus after two cases were reported in neighbouring Chad.
 
Over 5 million children were vaccinated over three days, while Chad vaccinated 2.5 million of its children. Chad had previously stopped polio, but has reported two cases to date this year. Sudan has not reported a case of polio since 2005. Travel between the two countries is considerable, raising the risk of poliovirus spread. More