Thirty year trend (1967-1996) in prevalence of poliomyelitis and vaccine coverage in Ballabgarh, Haryana, India.

India is committed to eradication of poliomyelitis by the year 2000. However, India still reported about 58% of all polio cases documented globally in 1995. India has adopted the World Health Organisation’s recommended strategy of National Immunization Days (that is, Pulse Polio Immunization) from the year 1995. Oral polio vaccine (OPV) was introduced at national level in 1985. However, no community based surveillance has been instituted. The data from the sentinel centres based in cities suggest a decline in the incidence of poliomyelitis. 4 As the surveillance is passive and the extent of under reporting is not known, sentinel surveillance may not reflect the true situation in the community. We report our experience with oral polio immunisation and its impact on prevalence of poliomyelitis in Ballabgarh Block of Haryana state in Northern India. The information on poliomyelitis occurrence in this community is available for past 30 years.