Participants at the Capacity Development Workshop in Muzaffarpur on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Muzaffarpur, Feb. 27: The state has been witnessing a significant decline in polio cases over the past few years, said A.P. Singh, the civil surgeon-cum chief medical officer (CMO), Muzaffarpur.

Singh, while addressing a gathering today on the concluding day of a two-day programme — Capacity Development Media Workshop — said: “If north Bihar witnesses zero polio cases for the next three years, then it would be declared a polio-free zone.”

He said: “There has been a significant reduction of P1 cases especially in the key reservoir states — Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and Bengal. Till December last year, 17 P1 cases were reported in the country against 78 in 2009. Not a single P1 case was detected in UP and only three cases have been reported from Bihar last year. All the three P1 cases of polio have been detected in Dhaka block of East Champaran.”

Kamlakar, an employee of the Unicef, said: “Unicef has progressed in its polio eradication programme because of intensive immunisation campaigns focusing on areas of high risk of getting polio. Infants have been administered more efficacious Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccines and since 2010, the Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccines (BOPV), which protects infants from both P1 and P3 viruses, has been simultaneously administered.”

The centre, in association with the Unicef, World Health Organisation’s National Polio Surveillance Programme, Rotary International, US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention are working on the polio eradication programme. Children are administered Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and routine immunisation programmes are held.

The programmes in recent times have expanded and now cover slum areas and migrants, said Kamlakar.

J.P. Singh, former governor of Rotary Interna tional said: “A high-level review meeting will be organised in Viratnagar in Nepal to contain the surge of polio virus.”

Singh said: “Children suffering from malnutrition are more susceptible to polio.”

He said: “Children who are undernourished are likely to suffer more from the infection. Hence, they are more likely to be paralysed even if they have taken several doses of OPV.

The two northern states like Bihar and Uttar Pardesh, where endemic polio virus circulated, were grappling with high-levels of undernutrition.”

He said: “Since undernourished children are not optimally breast-fed and have low immunity they are more susceptible to polio.”

He said: “Concerted efforts are being made to prevent undernutrition and improve the development of children under three years of age especially from the marginalised groups by strengthening the quality of Integrated Community Development Schemes in various ways.”

He added: “We will work on improving the over all quality of health of villagers and improve nutrition days thus we will be able to provide a platform for delivering OPV to all the children.