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Bihar woman gets Florence Nightingale award for her battle against polio

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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : May 5, 2014 12:14 PM IST

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polio-1After being honoured with the United Nations Foundation award, a Bihar health official has now been selected for the National Florence Nightingale Award 2014 for her extraordinary work to eradicate polio, officials here said Sunday.

'I am happy the president will honour me for my work in polio immunization campaign,' Martha Dodray, a tribal native of Palamu district of neighbouring Jharkhand, said. Dodray, in her mid-40s, is a midwife posted at Kusheshwarsthan primary health centre in the state's Darbhanga district. Recalling her struggle, she said she walked several kilometres each day to reach remote and inaccessible villages to administer polio vaccine to hundreds of children, mostly belonging to the poorest of the poor. (Read: Polio-free India 5 amazing facts about the journey that helped us eradicate polio)

The award carries Rs.50,000 and a merit certificate and is given on the occasion of International Nursing Day as a mark of recognition of the meritorious service rendered by nurses and nursing professionals in the country. The day is observed in the memory of English social reformer Florence Nightingale, who is considered founder of modern nursing. (Read: After polio-free India, Pranab Mukherjee wants universal health coverage)

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Last November, Dodray was honoured at the Global Leadership Awards Dinner of 2013 hosted by the UN Foundation. Apart from Dodray, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan got the award for championing the cause of girls' education in her country. The National Florence Nightingale Award 2014 will be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee in a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi May 12.

What is polio:

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

Some facts about polio:

  • Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under five years of age.
  • One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.
  • Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an
    estimated 350 000 cases then, to 650 reported cases in 2011. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease.
  • In 2012, only three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) remain polio-endemic, down from more than 125 in 1988.
  • As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. Failure to eradicate polio from these last remaining strongholds could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.
  • In most countries, the global effort has expanded capacities to tackle other infectious diseases by building effective surveillance and immunization systems.

With inputs from: IANS

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