Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan has extended support to Pakistan to fight polio.

Pakistan has high incidences of the viral disease and poses a threat to India, which achieved polio-free status early this year. It is estimated that Pakistan accounts for 85 per cent of the world’s polio cases.

“Pakistan has resolved to set up monitoring cells at the grassroots level. It is also talking of involving social groups, a strategy which worked wonderfully in India,” Vardhan said.

India has not recorded any new cases of polio in three years, but Pakistan is only now trying to put into place a National Emergency Action Plan 2014 to combat polio.Pakistan is only one of the three countries where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. Other countries where polio persists include Ethiopia, Syria, Kenya and Somalia.

India has been following preventive measures against possibility of the infection entering the country from these nations and all travellers from these countries are mandatorily required to take polio vaccine before entering India.

However, while check-posts on Indian borders have special facilities to ensure protection against polio re-infection, including vaccinations for people coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan, the biggest threat for India remains illegal migrants. Vardhan further added that while in September 2012, after Foreign Minister-level talks, India and Pakistan decided to cooperate to eradicate polio. A technical-level group was also working in the area but little progress was made on this front.

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