Gorakhpur city has witnessed many victims of polio. The sufferings of children were heartbreaking but the sincere collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), WHO’s National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP), UNICEF, Rotary International, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has changed the scenario not only in the city and around but all over the country. The success of the polio eradication program has become a milestone for other projects.

With the successful drives the polio awareness has enhanced and the participation of each sector of society in ‘two drops of life’ campaign has taken us away from the pain and sorrow polio victims. Dr. RN Mishra, CMO, Gorakhpur shares, “The crippling disease that held the world to ransom before 1995 has almost been eliminated with those two tiny drops of oral polio vaccine, a well thought out strategy, large financial resources and the dedication and commitment of thousands of devoted volunteers and international health agencies. Now only one case has been detected in the country since April 2010. The involvement of local people proved to be great help in running of the campaign. A team of coordinators along with adept supervision reached to each house. In the yester years we ran several campaigns but this year only two polio drives are in the agenda.”

Shahre Qazi, Mufti, Maulana Waliullah who accompanied administrative officers and campaigners in almost all the polio drives of the region avers, “I’m happy that now only one case of polio has been detected so far. In 2009, 66 per cent of polio cases nationally occurred in children under two years of age. About 230,000 children are born each month in Bihar, and in U.P., over 400,000 children are born each month. Earlier some families especially of Muslim cult believed that the polio vaccine drops could have harmful effects on the health of their children and affect their fertility. As soon as vaccinators arrived at their doorstep, families would hide their children and some women would even run away with their children. We urged the families to accept the vaccines, as these were safe and important for their children. I gave them the reference of Holy Quran that being healthy is very important in Islam and there is nothing in the vaccine that could harm their children’s fertility.”

Prof. Shiraz Wajih, president, GEAG says, “Polio drive is an example of excellence in India. We are at verge of eradication of the deadly disease. I remember we got the opportunity to train UNICEF people for polio drive as in those days giving polio drops to children was not easy. People use to hide their children from vaccinators. We trained them in reaching to each houses. Religious leaders played a vital role in making the program success.”

Jatashankar Tripathi a social activist says, “I am the part of the drive and always try to give my feeble support to the great campaign. It is good that we have almost won the battle but we should be very careful for importation of the polio virus from neighboring countries as China and Pakistan have had a spurt in polio cases this year. Indo- Nepal border should also be treated well to make the region safe from polio.”