5 February 2003

India launches largest ever Polio Vaccination Campaign

165 million children to be vaccinated where 85 per cent of

new polio cases in the world is recorded

To combat the largest polio epidemic in recent history, on 9 February,
India will launch the largest ever mass immunization campaign against
polio, targeting 165 million children.

Over 1.3 million vaccination teams of volunteers and health workers,
equipped with nearly 200 million doses of vaccine, will go house-to-house
and work at booths in communities to reach every child under the age of
five years. To succeed, the teams will have to cover a country the size
of Western Europe in six days.

The campaign, the second of 2003, is to combat a growing polio epidemic
that swept the northern part of the country last year. In 2002, the
target year to stop poliovirus transmission globally, India was one of
only two countries (with Nigeria) to see a significant rise in new cases.
New cases totalling 15561 were confirmed, representing 85 percent of new
polio cases worldwide. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh, with a
population of 173 million, accounted for 66 percent of cases in the world.

"This is an extraordinary epidemic," said Dr Daniel Tarantola, Director of
Vaccines and Biologicals at the World Health Organization. "It requires
an extraordinary effort by a whole range of national and international
partners. After 15 years of progress, we are very focused on India, where
stopping transmission will be a monumental task. This campaign in
February is exactly the kind of response necessary to protect the children
of India, and indeed the world, from this devastating disease and tackle
this final stage of eradication head-on."

In January, the Governments of India and Uttar Pradesh worked closely with
WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF to organize a mass campaign that vaccinated
over 33 million children in Uttar Pradesh. Although three million more
children came to vaccination booths2 than in past campaigns, organizers
maintain they must reach even more children to stop the epidemic. This
includes vaccinating the 250 000 babies born in Uttar Pradesh alone since
early January.

"We're facing an enormous job," said Maria Calivis, Country Representative
of UNICEF in India. "We have to stop polio in India. We all have to work
together to reach every Indian child with polio vaccine and make sure the
vast numbers of children in Uttar Pradesh receive vaccine this month and
throughout 2003 and 2004. Beyond this programme, a huge effort is needed
to ensure routine immunization and quality primary health services.
Today, most of India is polio-free and none of us wants to see a reversal
of the gains made in the past several years."

To galvanize communities, Rotary International and UNICEF are supporting
the national and Uttar Pradesh governments, working with such
organizations as Aligarh Muslim University and community leaders, and
Indian film and cricket stars. Three hundred and fifty thousand children
have participated in drawing competitions to highlight the event, while
nearly 1000 rallies in communities have been organized.

"We are now putting everything into place to curtail this epidemic," said
Dr Sobhan Sarkar, Deputy Commissioner - Child Health, Government of India.
"Indians want their country to be polio-free. We recognize the urgency to
stop transmission of this crippling disease which has historically taken
such a drastic toll on our country."

Polio eradication is facing a funding gap of US$ 275 million worldwide,
and US$ 100 million in India alone. To help counter this shortfall,
Rotary International is intensifying its fundraising efforts with the goal
of raising US$ 80 million by June 2003 - in addition to the US$ 500
million Rotary has committed since 1985. "We will do everything in our
power to ensure that nothing derails the dream of a polio-free world,"
commented Bill Sergeant of Rotary International. "The international
community must also step up efforts so that all children are protected
from this tragic disease." In a demonstration of its commitment to India,
65 Rotary volunteers from around the world will travel to Uttar Pradesh
and New Delhi to administer the polio vaccine to children first-hand.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary
International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and
UNICEF.

The poliovirus is now circulating in only seven countries around the
world, reduced from over 125 when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative
was launched in 1988. The seven countries with indigenous wild poliovirus
are (from highest to lowest risk): India, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Niger and Somalia. Keralamonitor.com