Resurgent polio
Cripple effect
Moradabad district in western Uttar Pradesh (up) holds a dubious distinction: this year it has registered the highest number of polio cases of any district in the country. When this magazine went to press, officials there were gearing up for a special polio vaccination drive slated for December 10. They exuded confidence; quite unimaginable for officials of a district that has recorded 64 polio cases this year. "Everything is under control now,' said Moradabad's district collector Pandhari Yadav. "More cases are now being reported from other up districts,' he said.
This year, 234,520,826 children in up had been vaccinated by October 2006. But 471 of the total 571 polio cases in India in 2006 have come from this state (see : Polio vault.District officials in Moradabad claim they have done their best, and their counterparts in the National Polio Surveillance Project (npsp)