From 200,000 to zero: the journey to a polio-free India
Before the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, polio crippled an estimated 200,000 children in India each year. As recently as 2009, India reported almost half the world’s cases – 741 out of a total 1604 cases worldwide. Many health experts predicted India would be the last country to eradicate polio. Yet in 2012 India achieved a major milestone. By passing one full year without recording any cases, India is no longer considered a polioendemic country. The journey from 200,000 to zero has been long, hard and arduous. It has included billions of dollars of investment and the delivery of billions of doses of vaccine.