20% less coverage of polio vaccine in 34 districts

By Mahima Devkota, Kathmandu, Oct.27: There is a gap of 20 per cent of the polio vaccine coverage in the 34 districts across the country. 

Dr Badri Raj Pandey, chairman of the National Certification Committee of polio said that there is 80 per cent polio vaccine coverage in 34 districts of Nepal.

Therefore, it is observed that efforts from all tiers of government need to be increased to make it to 90 per cent of polio vaccine coverage. 

According to him, even though the polio vaccine is distributed free of cost, 50,000 children, who need to receive a full dose of polio, have been deprived of the vaccine. 

There needs to be an intake of full-course polio in order to avert its risk of contraction, therefore there is a need for proper surveillance if any children have missed out on their doses or not. 

He said the resurgence of poliovirus in countries where it was totally eliminated has added to the risk of polio resurgence in Nepal. Nepal was declared to be free from polio in the year 2014. 

As per the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the open border and resurging cases of polio have hindered the target of achieving polio eradication world. 

Dr Dipendra Raman Singh, director of the Department of Health Services under MoHP said that there has been a reoccurrence of polio cases over years. From 2001 to 2005, not a single case of polio was detected, and then from 2005 to 2010, 5-6 new cases of polio were reported each year. 

A total of 32 cases of polio were reported in Nepal from 1998 to 2010. The last reported cases of polio were in four people in 2010. 

He said that there needs to be an early screening in order to maintain polio-free status in Nepal.  

Dr Roshan Pokhrel, secretary of the MoHP, said that even though Nepal has remained polio-free in the last 12 years, but, the risk of contracting the polio virus remains high because new cases of polio have been detected in South Asia, which increases the chance of its spread in Nepal as well. 

Today, World Polio Day 2022 and Beyond has been celebrated with the slogan ' A healthier future for mothers and children.'