India Marks Third Year Polio-Free (Video)

For India, 2014 marks the third, consecutive year in which the country reported its last polio case, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The polio-endemic was a significant problem in the country for a long time.

"India was once thought to be the most difficult country in which to achieve polio eradication," the Global Polio Eradication Initiative said, via a state according to the BBC.

According to WHO Director General Margaret Chan, she praised the achievement and said the country was moving forward in a big way to promote better health for both women and children.

"I want to urge countries in this region. Please continue to champion universal access to healthcare. That is the platform to deliver healthy human capital that is important for sustainable development in the future," she said during a meeting of Health Ministers of South-East Asia Region, according to Mid-Day.com.

Though the WHO took India off the list of the polio endemic countries in February of 2012, the country will officially be declared "polio free" if no new cases of the health issue are reported in the next year.

"We cannot let this happen to our country", said Raman Bhatia, member of India National PolioPlus Committee (INPPC) in a CNN IBN report. The country is not expected to formally declare India polio-free until March. 

The last wild polio virus type 1 case in Howrah, West Bengal, was reported January 13, 2011.

Since then, nearly 2.3 million volunteers visit 209 million homes to help vaccinate approximately 170 million children under the age of five in India.

Want to see more about India and their anti-polio campaign? Check out this video, courtesy of YouTube.