The Nepali Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is planning to organize a Sub-national Immunization Day by administrating polio drops to children under five in 15 districts of Nepal, an official at MoHP said here Monday.

"The program will be organized on Jan. 21-22 after a couple of cases of polio were detected in the Terai belt southern part of Nepal adjoining the Indian border," Shyam Raj Upreti, chief of the Expanded Program on Immunization Section of Child Health Division at MoHP, told reporters.

The program will being implemented under the World Health Organization's new directive of providing polio drops to two million children in high-risk areas after the detection of polio in the region, Upreti noted.

The targeted 15 districts include districts of the Terai belt ranging from eastern Jhapa to central Chitwan district, Upreti noted, adding, "There are plans to expand the program to urban areas of hilly region such as central Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur district where the immigration rate is very high."

The first case of polio was detected in 2004 and other three cases were detected between October and November 2005 in the Terai belt, Upreti revealed.

"Until and unless polio is eradicated in India, there is little chance of obliterating polio in Nepal's border areas," he added.

Source: Xinhua