Within a week of slipping on the 2007 target, India has readied a fresh deadline to eradicate polio. The country now eyes to receive a polio-free certificate from the World Health Organisation (WHO) by 2012.
The success in containing the spread of the more dangerous type-1 polio virus in 20 out of 24 endemic districts of western Uttar Pradesh since November 2006 has given confidence to the government to come up with the new deadline. The previous polio eradication deadline expired in December, 2007.
“While the Centre hopes to make the entire country free of P-1 virus by 2008, it would take one more year to wipe off the less virulent P-3 strain,” Dr Lalit Kant, senior deputy director general at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said at the 95th session of the Indian Science Congress here on Sunday.
“Though India witnessed a surge of P1 in 2006 with reporting of as many as 648 cases, the number has fallen drastically to 72 in 2007. But in the same period, the numbers of milder P3 cases have increased from 28 in 2006 to 464 in 2007,” he said.
“Finalised in December, the new deadline envisages wiping off P1 cases from Uttar Pradesh and rest of the country – including Karnataka where a polio cases was detected in November – by the first quarter of 2008. It will take another three months to remove P1 from Bihar. The remaining one and half years till 2009 end would be utilised to eradicate P3 from UP, Bihar and the rest of the country,” he added.
The positive outcomes of the last 20 months has kindled the government’s hopes to contain transmission of both P1 and P3 within the next two years as controlling P3 is considered relatively easy. 
After a mandatory hiatus of four years without any polio virus transmissions, the country expects the WHO’s polio free certificate by 2012, Dr Kant said, adding that the pulse polio programme should end in 2013.
India is the world’s largest reservoir of wild polio virus and is one of the four countries where the virus is still being transmitted. The other three nations are Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Successive government’s failure in controlling the polio situation resulted in large polio outbreaks since 1998 with a declining trend. While there were almost 2000 polio cases in 1998, the number came down to close to 1500 and 700 respectively in 2002 and 2006.
Failure on the polio front and India’s image as an “exporter of polio virus” brought national shame with former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan writing to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the need for urgent action.
India also faced the threat of having an international travel advisory from the WHO, which would have impacted the rising economy.