India's Health Workers on How to Eradicate Polio

"Beyond the value of face-to-face advocacy, the polio eradication effort opens the door for the delivery of all essential vaccines and health services in a number of other ways."

According to this article, polio vaccination activities can - and must - work in tandem with routine immunisation (RI) systems that deliver other life-saving vaccines. As Naveen Thacker reports here, in 2009, the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Emory University, and India's National Polio Surveillance Project conducted a study of rural frontline health workers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. (Click here to access the article - by subscription only.) Amongst the findings: The majority of the health workers stated that polio immunisation activities benefit the other health initiatives they carry out. Ninety-five percent of those surveyed said that, as they interact directly with families and explain the benefits of the polio vaccine to skeptical parents, they are able to increase acceptance of vaccines more broadly.

Also, Thacker (who was co-principal investigator for the study cited above), the infrastructure and expertise that India established to keep polio vaccines cold as health workers transport them around the country have enabled the introduction of other vaccines that require a cold chain, including Hepatitis B and Japanese Encephalitis vaccines. In addition, new mapping technology is helping health workers reach children with a wide variety of health services.