India Needs to Focus on Its Polio Survivors

30/04/2015 0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

The Indian Government, Non-Governmental Organisations and the larger community must invest in rehabilitating millions of polio survivors facing new physical, social, cultural and economic challenges.

India was certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation on 27 March 2014. Polio immunisation has been a great success story of public-private health partnership, but now we need to replicate this to improving the lives of people living with polio.

Unlike the developed world, millions of polio survivors in India are still very young. They will need treatment and support for many more years to come. Doctors, orthotists and physiotherapists need to be trained to recognise and manage the debilitating effects of Post-Polio Syndrome [PPS]. It is also time to count and document the number of polio survivors and the problems they are facing today.

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After eradication: India’s post-polio problem

31/03/2014 0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

Polio survivors performing Sufi dance on wheelchairs. Photo Credit: Ability Unlimited

By Neena Bhandari

New Delhi, 31.03.2014 (BMJ): As India celebrates three years of being polio free there is an urgent need to invest in medical care for the thousands of people who made the most of life after having had poliomyelitis but are now facing the debilitating post-polio syndrome (PPS).1 2 PPS describes the sudden onset of muscle weakness or fatigability in people with a history of acute paralytic poliomyelitis, usually occurring 15 to 40 years later.3 Many thousands of polio survivors experience muscle weakness, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, intolerance to cold, and difficulties in sleeping, breathing, or swallowing.

The March of Dimes, an international non-profit agency based in the United States and founded in 1938 by President and polio survivor Franklin D Roosevelt, warned in 2001 that as many as 20 million people worldwide are at risk of PPS, which could leave them using wheelchairs or ventilators for the rest of their lives.

After eradication_ India’s post-polio problem _ BMJ

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Lighting up young lives through mid-day meals in schools

09/03/2012 0 Comments read Education, Health & Science

Pradeep and Sandeep sharing their mid-day meal at Rajkya Prathmik Vidyalaya, Ghanchiyon ki Gufa, Saraswati Nagar in Jodhpur. Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Jodhpur (Rajasthan), 09.03.2012 (WFS): The clock chimes 11 am. Neetu Yadav, 10, and her classmates’ eyes turn expectantly from the blackboard to the school gates. The roar of the approaching autorickshaw carrying their mid-day meal is growing louder, and the 35 students at the government-run Rajkya Prathmik Vidyalaya, Ghanchiyon ki Gufa, Saraswati Nagar in Jodhpur, erupt into a loud cheer.

Jodhpur, located in the vast Thar desert of western Rajasthan, is the state’s second largest city, with a population of around 3.68 million, according to the 2011 Census. The city prides itself on its educational institutions and the average literacy here is 81.56 per cent – with female literacy at 73.93 per cent. Impressive figures, given that the average literacy rate in the state is 67 per cent.

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