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India among four polio-endemic countries: UN
Feb 3, 2006, 15:38, Reviewed by: Dr. Priya Saxena
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"This is the first time in three years that the number of polio-endemic countries has fallen, leaving Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as the sole remaining countries yet to stop indigenous polio transmission,"
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By IANS,
India is one of four remaining polio-endemic countries in the world along with Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, says a UN report.
"This is the first time in three years that the number of polio-endemic countries has fallen, leaving Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as the sole remaining countries yet to stop indigenous polio transmission," says the report, which announces new vaccine initiatives to target remaining strains of the virus.
The report comes as polio eradication efforts enter a new phase with the next-generation vaccines targeting the two surviving strains -- poliovirus types 1 and 3.
In 2006, monovalent vaccines, aimed at individual virus strains, will be the primary platform for eradication in all remaining polio-affected areas, says a UN statement.
The core partners in polio eradication are WHO, Rotary International, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
Despite the fact that polio is still endemic in India and Pakistan, the number of cases in both countries in the last quarter in 2005 fell by more than half compared with the previous year, the statement adds. This is due to more effective immunisation strategies and the use of the monovalent vaccines.
"In addition to mass immunisation with monovalent vaccines in the four endemic countries, large-scale campaigns with these vaccines will need to take place in 2006 in eight countries - including Somalia, Indonesia and Yemen - to stop recently imported polioviruses."
Egypt and Niger are the two countries that defeated indigenous polio over the last 12 months or so due to multiple immunisation campaigns.
In 2005, all the nine polio cases reported in Niger were imported over the heavily-travelled border with Nigeria, the world's largest reservoir of poliovirus.
"The success in Niger and Egypt is the result of intense efforts in 2004-05 to halt Africa's polio epidemic and fast-track the introduction of monovalent polio vaccines into selected areas," says the statement, referring to vaccines that target individual virus strains.
The UN partners have called on governments to remain vigilant and continue their eradication efforts.
Critical to the success of these campaigns is a $150 million shortfall, which must be filled as rapidly as possible. The eradication effort requires a further $425 million for the 2007-2008 period, according to the UN. 
- Indo-Asian News Service
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