KATHMANDU, JAN 04 - On the occasion of Eighth National Immunisation Day today, Health Minister Kamal Thapa administered Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to the children under the age of five at Kanti Children Hospital.
In Nepal administration of OPV started in 1995. Since then, Rotary International, HMG and other donor agencies have been organising National Immunisation Day every year.
A country is considered polio-free if there is no single polio case reported in the last three years. According to Tehmas R. Manekshaw, chairman of Nepal National PolioPlus Committee (NNPPC), at present, there are only 546 cases of polio from 11 countries worldwide, the rest are free including Nepal. He, however, said that polio-free certification to Nepal was yet to be awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Elaborating the polio cases from different countries, Manekshaw informed that out of 546 cases from around the world-Nigeria topped the list with 246 cases, followed by India and Pakistan with 209 and 88 cases respectively.
Health experts believe that Nepal is almost free from polio but due to the open border with India, some cases are occasionally seen. Informing about one such incident, Krishna M. Timilsina, secretary of the NNPPC said, "A nine-month-old Muslim girl from Nepalgunj was the last reported case of polio in last three years."
The Terai districts- Banke, Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur, bordering with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) of India are more vulnerable to polio cases because UP has the highest number of polio cases in India. Experts say that polio victims, due to the open border, are free to move across the border, and as the disease is communicable, there are chances of transfer of the disease.
39,246 polio booths were set up in the country today and the OPV programme will continue tomorrow with the Mop Up campaign- administering OPV by visiting households. 4.2 million children below five years of age are expected to take the OPV this time.
His Majesty’s Government, Rotary International, UNICEF, WHO, JICA, NORAD and CDC have been working in close co-ordination to eradicate polio from the country. Experts expect to celebrate the certification of a polio-free world by the year 2005.Posted on: 2004-01-05 04:43

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.

* Full Name

* Address

* Email Address

* Comment
[Some of the HTML tags you can use : <b>, <i>, <a>]

* Captcha

Get another CAPTCHA code