SECRETARY FAMILY WELFARE REVIEWS PREPAREDNESS OF UP FOR PULSE
POLIO IMMUNIZATION
Secretary, Family Welfare,
Sh. J. V. R. Prasada Rao had a discussion with Chief Secretary,
Uttar Pradesh on the preparedness of the State Government for
the proposed Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization rounds to be
undertaken in the months of September and November 2002 and January
and February 2003. The meeting was necessitated in view of occurrence
of recent increase of polio cases in the state in spite of steep
decline of polio cases in other parts of the country in recent
years. Secretary was also concerned of the fact that in spite
of several rounds of Pulse Polio Immunization in the past and
mop-up activities for every single fresh case, there was no reduction
in the polio transmission in UP.
It was discussed in the
meeting that still a large number of children are not being vaccinated
either because of not reaching them or on the face of myths and
rumors for which parents are not accepting vaccination for the
children. The Chief Secretary instructed officers of his Department
and also the partner agencies to activate their field level functionaries
through micro-planning, training, proper logistics etc. so that
subsequent rounds are undertaken without any failure. He instructed
that the planning of the upcoming rounds should be done with the
same meticulous care as that of election process. Secretary assured
the State Government of the full support for all the requirements
they may need at this crucial juncture. Representatives of WHO
and UNICEF were also present in the meeting.
It may be noted that
number of polio cases declined from 773 in 1999 to 179 cases in
2000. However, during 2001 number of polio cases increased to
216 and during 2002 polio cases detected so far are 250.
