Polio Cases in India Decreased to its Record Low

According to the GPEI (Global Polio Eradication Initiative) report, released on 17 December 2010, polio cases in India decreased to 41 (the lowest number of polio cases ever in India) in 2010 against 650 cases reported in 2009. GPEI report stated that out of 41 cases, 19 cases are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In 2009, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had accounted for 600 cases. GPEI (Global Polio Eradication Initiative) put the number of Polio cases in Nigeria at 13 in 2010 against 400 polio cases in 2009.

134 polio cases were reported from Pakistan in 2010, more than 84 polio cases in 2009. Polio cases in Afghanistan decreased to 23 cases from 38 cases in 2009. As per GPEI report, Tajikistan reported its first polio case after a gap of 13 years after it was declared polio free in 1997. Tajikistan reported 458 cases of Type1 polio in 2010, which is 60 percent of the Type1 polio cases all over the world.

India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are considered as Polio-endemic countries. Among them, India is the most technically challenging country.