The World Health Organization (WHO) joined the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telengana to celebrate the polio free status of India and the entire South-East Asia Region of WHO at Bengaluru on 19 August 2014.
The special celebration was held in the august presence of Mr Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka; Dr C Vijaya Baskar, Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu; Mr U. T. Khader, Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka; Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia; Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India and senior officials from the state governments, WHO Country Office for India, UNICEF, Rotary International and other partner agencies.
WHO felicitated the governments and officials from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telengana for their role in polio eradication at this special event.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region said, “While our victory on polio is a matter of great celebration, let us also focus on other vaccine preventable diseases that are a major cause of deaths among children and pregnant women. WHO South-East Asia Region is fully committed to protecting all children from other vaccine preventable diseases.”
“Strengthening routine immunization is critical for maintaining high population immunity against polio and also other vaccine preventable diseases. This, I believe, will help us keep polio at bay but also help us achieve our immunization targets keeping our children safe and disease free,” she further added.
Congratulating the governments and the people of the southern states for their role in polio eradication, Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India said, “The programme has demonstrated how strong commitment and ownership from political leaders, a sustained flow of resources and the tireless efforts and resilience of grassroots health workers can defeat even the most tenacious virus. This combined with coordination between ministries and effective partnerships with international agencies, continuous technological innovations and refinement of programme strategies can help achieve any goal- even the seemingly impossible.”
“WHO India is setting-up of offices in selected states to ensure proximity to local government health officials and other key stakeholders and increase the technical and operational efficiency at the state level. This will help us achieve our objectives of strengthening the health system and promoting health equity. We believe this will also spur us on the path to implementing the Universal Health Coverage agenda with the final aim to achieve better health outcomes for all,” she added.