Friday March 28th 2014, The World Health Organization certified India officially polio-free on Thursday after the country went three years with no new cases of the illness.

Polio is usually spread through contaminated water or food, and children under five are particularly susceptible.

India’s last case of the wild polio virus was detected in January 2011 in a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal.

Before a Region can be certified polio-free, several conditions must be satisfied such as: at least three years of zero confirmed cases due to indigenous wild poliovirus; excellent laboratory-based surveillance for poliovirus; demonstrated capacity to detect, report, and respond to imported cases of poliomyelitis; and assurance of safe containment of polioviruses in laboratories (introduced since 2000).

The commission praised India and southeast Asian countries for their public health efforts.

The official certificate was received by Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad at a function.

The Health Minister expressed gratitude towards WHO, UNICEF , Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others stakeholders, including the parents of the children, for their strong technical and operational support to this collective effort in this region.

The other countries certified Thursday were Bangladesh, Bhutan, South Korea, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and East Timor.

“This is a momentous victory for the millions of health workers who have worked with governments, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and international partners to eradicate polio from the Region. It is a sign of what we can bequeath our children when we work together,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for the WHO South-East Asia Region.

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world with polio.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.