To safeguard India from the polio virus and maintain its polio-free status, the central government has been actively urging states and union territories to closely monitor travellers from the 11 countries where polio is still present.
While in May, the Union Health Ministry issued orders for incoming and outgoing travellers to polio-affected countries, it has once again reminded states and UTs to keep an eye on the points of entry.
India has not reported any cases of polio caused by wild poliovirus since January 13, 2011, and was officially declared polio-free on March 27, 2014, along with other countries in the Southeast Asia Region. Presently these eleven countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Congo, DR Congo, Somalia and Syria – have been identified as polio-infected countries.
According to the central government rules, all travellers to and from these countries should receive a dose of oral polio vaccine or inactivated polio vaccine before their travel – to minimise the “risk of poliovirus importation in the country.”
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), polio is a highly infectious viral disease that mainly affects children under 5 years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the “faecal-oral route”. It means diseases can spread from an infected person to another person mainly through the mouth when a person consumes food or water that has been contaminated with the feces of an infected person.
Health ministry writes to states & UTs
“As you are aware, India has not reported any polio case due to wild poliovirus since 13th January 2011 and is certified polio-free on 27th March 2014 along with other countries in the Southeast Asia Region of WHO,” Meena Srivastava, joint secretary at union health ministry wrote in a letter to additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and health secretaries of all states and union territories.
The letter dated September 3 reminded the officers to follow the previous office orders that mandated the requirement of polio vaccination for all travellers coming in or going out from the listed countries.
“All districts are requested to follow the attached advisory,” the letter said while directing at the advisory which says that the travellers need to obtain vaccine certificate mandatorily from the health officers of their country.
To fight the shortage of vaccines in any of the listed countries, India has made a provision to stock its own vaccines at entry points.
District immunisation officers, according to the letter, have been instructed to “ensure timely and free-of-cost supply of OPV and IPV (polio vaccines) along with 0.5ml AD syringe on demand to the Point of Entries and authorised Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre.”
The letter seeks the support of officers at the state and union territory level “to ensure compliance with immediate effect on the above advisory”.
Comments
0 comment