India launches polio campaign

India will launch a nationwide polio immunization campaign from Jan. 20, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Sunday. "Today is a momentous day for the whole country, as India has completed two years without any case of wild polio virus. More than 170 million children below the age of five years will be given polio drops in the nationwide immunization campaign for polio eradication beginning Jan. 20," the Health Minister said in the national capital. He said that polio eradication efforts would continue to be one of the "thrust areas" of the government. "We have put in place an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan which we are committed to implement in all states across the country. Under it, a case of polio virus anywhere in the country will be treated as a public health emergency. Rapid response teams have been formed in all the states and centrally controlled territories, to effectively respond to any case of polio importation," he added. India is no longer in the World Health Organization's list of polio endemic countries.