NATIONAL7Spotlight Weekly)]

Drops Of Health

In a bid to eradicate the disease, four million children are fed polio drops

By A CORRESPONDENT

After the eradication of smallpox, serious efforts are being made in the country to eradicate polio. The government has launched a nationwide campaign against the disease that has been showing encouraging results.

In the last five years, polio cases have been drastically reduced. But the disease still exists in many parts of the country, including the terai districts bordering the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

With support from Rotary International, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, the government has been conducting a campaign against polio for the last four years. This year alone, more than four million children were administered polio drops.

An Intensified National Immunization Program was organized to provide polio drops to all children. "We are now focusing more on the terai areas adjoining Indian towns," Padam Prasad Pokharel, Secretary at the Ministry of Health, told SPOTLIGHT.

Children in several mountain districts were immunized against polio in September. More than 100,000 volunteers were mobilized in 23,000 booths. The second phase of this year's Intensified National Immunization Day is scheduled to be held on January 20, 2001.

Rotary International is taking initiatives to eradicate polio from the world by 2005 by spending more than US$350 million.

In the last four years, the disease has been effectively contained in most parts of the country. Still the virus can spread from one area to another. Medical practitioners say there is no room for complacency. There is no cure for polio, one can only prevent it.

Nepal is very close to eradicating polio, for which it is necessary that every child up to 5 years of age all over the country be given polio drops.

Millions of children have already been immunized. According to medical practitioners, even sick children can be given the drops.

WHO reports show that 163 countries have so far been successful in wiping out the polio virus and have gained the status of polio-free nations. Bangladesh, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India and Nepal are the only countries of this region where the disease is still noticed.

"As Nepal and India have an open border, it is not easy to eradicate polio from Nepal as long as it exists in India" says Dr. Hemang Dixit, an eminent pediatrician.

"We have been successful in our efforts to eradicate polio. Because of our continuous efforts over the last four years, the disease is gradually disappearing," says Dr. B.D. Chataut, director-general of the Department of Health Services.

In the last few year, only a few cases of polio infection were reported in the country. According the Ministry of Health, the disease will be eradicated within a couple of years.

Films On Mountains

A four-day Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) -- which began on December 1 and concluded on December 4 --enthralled the Nepalese audience. The organizers, who have held four previous festivals, say they got "an overwhelming crowd" this year.

Some 49 films, both documentaries and feature films, from 20 countries were shown at the festival. Out of them, 15 were centered on Nepal. The festival was organized by Himal Association and the films were screened in the halls of Russian Cultural Center.

During the screening of "Caravan", the famous Eric Valli movie, the hall was packed to capacity. The movie is about man against the mountains pictured in Dolpo.

The extraordinary highlight of the festival was the interaction between the cast and crew members of some of the films and the audience.

At the concluding ceremony, "Genghis Blues" won the Viewers' Choice Award. The movie is about blind musician from San Francisco who travels to a society of nomadic herders in Asia.

Other popular films that were screened during the festival included "Chicken Shit and Ash" by Austrian director Karl Prossiliner, "Iceman of Oetz Valley and His World" directed by another Austrian Kurl Muendl, "From Nowhere to the Middle of Nowhere" directed by Alun Hughes, "East: Carrying the Burden" - a 30-minute piece featuring the challenges in the lives of Nepalese porters directed by Sangita Manandhar, "Mukundo" directed by Chhiring Rhitar Sherpa, "The Arun Trial" directed by Yuri Baikovski about riding the Arun River in a unique Russian raft and "Lost on Everest" by Liesl Clark about an expedition's search for the body of the famous climber George Mallory, among others.