Seminar on "Role of media in polio eradication"

UNICEF, Bihar branch, organised a seminar on "Role of media in polio eradication" in Patna on August 26, 2009.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr Hemant Shukla, national programme coordinator of WHO, said the polio virus spreaded to other parts of the country from Bihar in 2008 and in the first few months of 2009

"The virus was exported from Bihar to other parts as genes found in the polio virus of Bihar and other parts are similar," he said.

A total of 236 cases of polio have been detected in the country so far this year, of which 181 cases were found in Uttar Pradesh, 49 in Bihar, four in Delhi and one each in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, he said.
So far 49 cases of polio cases have come to light in Bihar, of which eight were from the Kosi region, he added.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui