25 years of Pulse Polio Programme

Shashank Raj Gupta

Question: When was the Pulse Polio Programme was launched countrywide by the government of India?
(a) 1994
(b) 1995
(c) 1993
(d) 1996
Answer: (b)
Related facts:

  • Silver Jubilee of the Pulse Polio Programme was celebrated on 22nd October 2019. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister said that an event is scheduled to be held on 31st October, 2019 at Dr. Ambedkar International Center, Janpath with an expected gathering of around 800-900 delegates.
  • India has been declared Polio free in 2014 after a long and momentous journey.
  • The success of administering polio vaccination drops to 12 lakh children through 4000 ‘polio kendras’ on 2nd October, 1994 in the city of Delhi, led to a countrywide movement and Pulse Polio Program was taken countrywide a year later in 1995.
  • The best practices and the systems established by the Pulse Polio programme have benefitted other health programs, viz. the community mobilization, and logistics management, reaching the last mile or setting up a surveillance system.
  • The learnings from Pulse Polio programme have helped implementation of other immunization programme i.e. the Mission Indradhanush (MI) and the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI).
  • The MI as a flagship programme and included it in the multi-ministerial programme like the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) as well as the Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (EGSA) and we were able to reach and immunize crores of children across the country.
  • Since 2014, the Universal Immunization (UIP) basket of vaccines has expanded to cover 12 Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPDs) from the earlier 7.
  • Mission Indradhanush and related drives have successfully reached out to and vaccinated 3.39 crore children and 87.2 Lakh pregnant women in India.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI):

  • In 1988, the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed a resolution to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
  • The Government of Delhi piloted the first ever large scale supplementary immunization campaign with OPV in 1994 giving birth to the “Pulse Polio” immunization campaign with the iconic ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’ tagline, on 2nd October 1994, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
  • The campaign in Delhi reached nearly one million children up to the age of three years with two doses of OPV being administered on 02 October and 04 December through exclusive booth-based strategy. This strategy was later adopted and implemented by Government of India as Pulse Polio Campaigns.

Links:
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1588770