With a view to eradicate the crippling disease, health ministers from SAARC countries have planned to meet in New Delhi, India, on April, 8 to deliberate on measures to tackle polio and prevent its cross-country movement. After massive campaigning and immunization programs, world's only three reservoirs of wild polio virus are in Pakistan and Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Pakistan has the largest reservoir of polio virus and the country has recorded nearly 305 new polio cases in 2014. Since the beginning of 2015, 21 cases of polio have been reported from the country. Globally, the annual number of polio cases has fallen from 3.5 lakh in 1988 to 416 in 2013.
Other issues to be discussed at the conference include prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, disease surveillance network, health infrastructure, human resources for health, immunization for vaccine preventable diseases, HIV/AIDS, mental health and antibiotic resistance.
