Polio-free tag in March

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to certify Bangladesh polio-free by March as a member of its South East Asia Region, the Health Minister has said.

The country had been polio-free for the past seven years, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim told the press on Wednesday.

But WHO issues certificate only when all members of the region become polio-free, he said.

India was the last country that detected the disabling virus on Jan 13, 2011.

According to WHO's Global Certification Status, the 11 countries of this region are now polio-free but will be certified so only after maintaining the status for three years.

Once certified, this region would be the fourth of the WHO’s six regions to be polio-free.

The UN-body would declare the world polio-free once the other two regions – Africa and Eastern Mediterranean - become free of the virus.

The press briefing was organised on the eve of Bangladesh’s biggest ever immunisation campaign on Jan 25 to protect children against two deadly diseases – measles and rubella.

More than 50 million children, one-third of the total population, between nine months and 15 years of age will receive the combined measles-rubella (MR) vaccine during the three-week campaign, the minister said.

He said children below five years would also get an oral polio dose with the MR jab.

The American region got the certificate in 1994 when 35 member states remained polio-free for three years, while the Western Pacific region's 27 states collectively achieved the certificate in 2000, and Europe's 52 states in 2002.

Globally, polio remains endemic in three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. According to WHO, Nigeria belongs to the Africa region, while Pakistan and Afghanistan are bracketed in Eastern Mediterranean region.

Bangladesh recorded 18 cases only in 2006 in the last decade, according to the EPI, when it said the virus was imported from India.

Before 2006, Bangladesh reported one polio case in 2000, 29 cases in 1999, 10 in 1998, five in 1997 and 16 in 1996.

However, the children who were found to have contracted polio in 2006 were fed as many as 23 doses of the oral vaccine, raising the concerns of the vaccine efficacy.

WHO Medical Officer on Immunisation and Vaccine Jayantha B. L. Liyanage said at the press briefing that different virus needed different amount of doses for a person to become immune against it.

“For polio it can be seven, eight or nine doses,” he said.

EPI Programme Manager Tajul Islam Bari said, “It’s a live vaccine. It (immunity development) may differ from individual to individual”.

“It also depends on an individual’s physical condition - whether malnourished or immune-compromised,” he said.