Uttar Pradesh continues to show good results as far as containing the polio menace is concerned. The number of cases dropped from 1,242 in 2002 to 88 in 2003-end, and to a single case (Bulandshahr) in the first three months of 2004, which is no mean feat.Experts attribute the achievement to streamlined activity, political will and the around 2.7 lakh people who responded enthusiastically to every round of polio immunisation programme held.As UP achieves what is said to be the lowest figure in the history of polio cases in the state, experts fear complacency could prove disastrous in future.While every immunisation round cost the government around Rs 30 to 35 crore to cover the nearly 3.5 million children in the state, regular monitoring of the programme became necessary with the chief minister calling frequent review meetings. Another important task was the mobilisation of religious heads as 67 per cent of the cases in the year 2003 were reported from the Muslim community.‘‘Since 1998, while polio cases continued to come down significantly in other parts of the country, the situation in UP failed to improve, resulting in a catastrophic outbreak in 2002,’’ said Dr Sobhan Sarkar, Director Commissioner Child Health and in-charge of the polio eradication programme in the country.Sarkar lists the extra efforts needed to bring down incidence:• In the rest of the country, there was one polio booth for every 250 children manned by four persons, who were divided into two groups of two persons which went on a house-to-house immunisation campaign after the Pulse Polio day. In UP, the groups were accompanied by a member from the community so no child missed the immunisation.• While in the rest of the country, the house-to-house immunisation programme continued for two days after every round, in UP it went on for five days to a week.• There was improved supervision as there was false information on the extent of houses covered in the programme.• A booth back-up team comprising four to eight people was sent to clusters where children were suspected to be uncovered by the programme.• Religious heads in the minority community were mobilised during the campaign — Deoband issued diktats for following the programme, while mosques became centres for disseminating information. Aligarh Muslim University and the Mili group, too, joined in.• Social mobilisation was done in collaboration with organisations like UNICEF, the Rotary group and Core organisation.• Celebrities like Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Muzaffar Ali and Farooq Sheikh visited affected areas. Mohd Kaif was made UP brand ambassador for polio.• CMs (Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav) held review meetings, and collectors were made directly accountable for polio cases‘‘The immunity gap in western UP has to be filled. Though the immunity gap or uncovered population has been brought down from 28 to 9 per cent, this 9 per cent is still dangerous,’’ Sarkar said.
