COMING UP. A polio-free world

A postal stamp and first-day cover with the message ‘Keep India polio free’ will be released in Mumbai on the eve of World Polio Day, October 24. India was declared polio-free last year and is now in its fourth polio-free year. The stamp and the first-day cover will be launched by Rajashree Birla, a known supporter of the campaign, at a function organised by the India National Polio Plus Committee, under the Rotary International. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is led by national governments, the World Health Organisation, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Unicef. The campaign expects to globally end polio by 2018. In fact, of the last three countries still reporting polio, Nigeria received zero-polio status earlier this year, leaving just Pakistan and Afghanistan to achieve global targets.