Polio eradication by 2012 at risk

New Delhi: Jul 21, 2011

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) admitted that the global plan to stop polio transmission by 2012 is “at risk”. Though the progress made by India – one of the four main countries still home to the crippling virus was termed as “exciting” — the persistent transmission of polio worldwide is being called a “global health emergency”. According to IMB, the fight against polio is being hampered by a $590-million funding gap coupled with weak political leadership in some countries and persistent problems in the quality of key polio vaccination campaigns. The IMB said, “India is on track to interrupt polio by end of 2011. While the country is now entering the traditional high season of polio transmission the scale of its response has been immense.”

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