The World Health Organization finally certified India as a Polio free country after 3 years of close analysis. The country did not register a single endemic case in the last three years, which according to the WHO is a global achievement in health efforts. The Polio-free Certification came this Thursday by the Regional Certification Commission, along with another proclamation that the entire Southeast Asia is free from this disease.

Almost 5 years back, the country was home to nearly half of the global polio population, and considered as one of the world’s most difficult places to eradicate this disease completely. Problems such as sanitation and its high-density population were the major concerns that increased the chances of people suffering from polio.

The last polio case to be registered in India is of a young girl in West Bengal who was paralyzed due to polio in January, 2011.

How did India fight Polio?

According to UNICEF, health workers found out that people of migrants and those living in difficult to reach localities never got access to the polio vaccines. Hence, they took special immunization efforts to reach out to these people and give them vaccines.

The country also launched a huge surveillance network including of almost 2.3 million administrators who identified all the communities, even those difficult to locate. They had social mobilizers, parents and religious leaders help increase the understanding about the vaccine and its immunization. Moreover, they increased the publicity about the vaccine with the aid of cricketers and Bollywood celebrities.

The polio disease is known to primarily affect young children more commonly. It can lead to paralysis and even death. Its occurrence can only be prevented, not cured. Today, there are just 3 countries that are endemic with polio disease, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan, as compared to the 125 countries in 1988.

WHO began a vaccination effort in December to reach out to almost 23 million children spread across Middle East due to a viral outbreak in Syria. In certain countries, militants have targeted anti-polio campaigns leading to violence against the health workers fighting polio disease.