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Rs 390-million Japanese aid for polio campaign in India

The Japanese government on Tuesday agreed to extend to the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, a 956 million yen (approximately Rs 390 million) grant assistance for the poliomyelitis-eradication project in India.

An agreement to this effect was signed between Nobuaki Ito, Charge d'Affaires of Japan in India, and Alan Court, UNICEF representative, at a function at the Japanese embassy in Delhi.

The grant assistance has been earmarked for procurement of vaccines and operational expenses for the Pulse Polio Immunisation, or PPI, campaign to be undertaken by UNICEF and the Indian government in 2000.

The 88.2 million doses of oral polio vaccine to be procured by UNICEF with the grant assistance will be utilised for PPI campaign in north-east India targetting about 16.5 million children under the age of five years in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, eastern Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal.

Japan has been providing support to PPI campaign in India since 1996. With Tuesday's grant, Japan's assistance to the PPI campaign in India since 1996 has totalled two billion yen (about Rs 830 million). The assistance has been utilised for procuring polio vaccines, cold chain equipment and operational expenses.

UNI

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