India declares itself as polio-free, no new case in last 3 years

On the issue of risks of infection from neighbouring countries, Azad said "right from the beginning, we have vaccinating the children coming from Pakistan when they would cross the border. There are some other neighbouring countries from where people come here by air and we have already issued advisories a few months back that they will not be allowed to come unless they have been vaccinated in their respective countries.

He further said his next focus is going to on non-communicable dieses, that is cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases.

Polio or infantile paralysis, is a viral, infectious disease which spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. Polio, which usually infects children under the age of five, can be prevented by vaccine and has been eliminated in most countries.

The disease still causes paralysis and death in some parts of the world including Nigeria, Pakistan and Afganistan.

India succeeded in its drive against polio through intense pulse polio immunisation under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched in 1988.

Under the initiative, over 17 crore children were vaccinated in each round of vaccination with the help of 24 lakh vaccinators.