The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organisation (WHO) on April 15 initiated a systematic engagement of the WHO’s national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for Covid-19 response.
The decision has been taken to tap into the best practices and key resources that helped India win its war against polio, as per the WHO’s official release.
Vital role
Speaking about the initiative, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare stated in the official release: “Time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio.”
He further added: “Today I would like to remind you of your potential and ability, and the big things we can do together. All of you in the field – IDSP, state rapid response teams and WHO - are our ‘surveillance corona warriors’. With your joint efforts, we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives.”
The Minister, along with Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, was addressing WHO and other field staff, simultaneously connected from over 10000 sites all over the country – from capital cities to the remotest corners.
“The National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies, and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” Dr Khetrapal Singh said. She added that the other WHO field staff involved with the elimination of TB and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.
The Regional Director mentioned: “It is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing, and containment activities.”
She also urged the field staff to support the state and district governments.
She further commented that in the fight against the Covid-19, we have entered a stage where surveillance is going to play a vital role in making future strategies for containment.
Sharing information, best practices
The strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of NCDC, IDSP, and ICMR to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance.
WHO stated that the NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.
WHO further informed most importantly, the WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of TB and Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Dr Khetrapal Singh said India has its unique challenges and also the capacity to overcome them, an example being the elimination of polio in 2014. She also complimented Dr Harsh Vardhan for introducing several of the key polio elimination initiatives as health minister of Delhi in 1994.
India’s WHO National Surveillance Project, renamed as National Public Health Surveillance Project post-polio elimination, has supported a number of public health emergency responses, including Ebola, with 50 of its surveillance medical officers deployed to Africa.