Today we are almost at the verge of eradicating the disease. India has made tremendous progress in reducing the circulation of polio. Compared to 1600 polio cases in 2002 all over the country, only 225 occurred in 2003 and only 22 cases in first 6 months of 2004.
This is the least number of cases ever happened in the country since the start of the project.

Gujarat
In Gujarat, sincere efforts from the state government has ensured that number of polio cases were not very high over last 5 years, except the 2002 outbreak.
No case of polio occurred in the state during last 18 months (after January’03).

Post 2002, significant efforts have been put to plug the loopholes in the system and adequately protect each and every child of the state against polio. A two-pronged strategy has been developed to I) strengthen Routine immunization and II) increase the quantity and quality of Pulse Polio rounds. These are the two ways by which polio vaccine (along with other vaccines too) can reach the children of the state and protect them from polio and other diseases.

One more crucial activity is “AFP Surveillance”. As clinical diagnosis of polio is not full proof, it is a must to examine all Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases (under 15years age) and arrange for timely (within 14 days of paralysis onset) examination of their stool samples in WHO accredited laboratories. Last year (2003) 380 AFP cases were reported in the state and only 3 of them were polio, whereas 200 AFP cases have been reported (till date) this year and none of them is polio.

Definite improvements have taken place in all the above areas. Regular analysis/feedback and proper interventions are being carried out ensure that after 2 years of low circulation in 2003 & 2004 (like 2000 & 2001) the polio virus does not get another chance to strike again in 2005.