India Polio Learning Exchange

Lodhi Estate, Delhi

National Immunization Days (NIDs) are held across India twice a year, with the Government of India setting out to give two drops of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to every child in the country under the age of five. The scale is extraordinary, with more than 172 million children immunized by 2.3 million vaccinators who visit every house in every city, town and village across the country – more than 209 million houses in all. 70 million+ children vaccinated in the highest-risk areas

The day-to-day behaviour of a majority of people is heavily governed by their religious affiliations. The edicts issued by religious leaders greatly influence them and their lives. These religious leaders are held in high regard and have a mass following. Religion drives the spiritualM well being of the people and has a strong impact on their social and economic life. It is common knowledge that traditions and customs derived from religion also have a strong impact on the health related behaviour of communities.

A wall painting on polio with the message ‘your love is complete only when your child gets polio drops every time’. The polio campaign logo is given at the right side top which reads, ‘protection from polio, two drops for my child every time’. Along the bottom it reads ‘first 5 years, give your child two drops every time’. All the messages appear in Hindi with Urdu.

To reach every household the polio programme in Bihar forged a partnership with COMFED the milk cooperative and came up with this idea of printing the polio logo with the message of 2 drops, every child, every time.

A fact sheet on the 'Polio Situation Update in India' with latest facts, figures, data and strategies adopted and implemented by the India Polio Eradication Programme. This is shared with print and electronic media personnel during the media workshops.

Flip chart used by the Social Mobilization Network in Bihar during training of Anganwadi Workers and Panchayat representatives (members of village governing council) on polio. It covers topics such as what is polio, how it spreads, symptoms, how can we prevent polio, salient features of the polio eradication programme in India, why so much focus on the polio programme, the need for repeated polio doses, why some children are affected by polio even after having repeated polio doses, is the polio vaccine safe for children and how to recognize if the oral polio vaccine is safe for use or not.