A girl's fingernail is painted with gentian violet to indicate she has received her polio vaccination, during a round of NIDs in the city of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Several districts here and in the neighbouring state of Bihar are called polio 'hot zones' because of continuing high-intensity transmission of the virus.
A child sitting inside a railway car is vaccinated at the station in the city of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. During NIDs in this district, trains are held at the station so all children under five who are on board can be immunized. Moradabad has the highest number of polio cases of any district in India.
Health workers go 'door-to-door' in the village of Dadupar in Moradabad district to immunize children. Individual houses are then marked with chalk, indicating that they all have been covered.
Dr. Mathew Varghese performs corrective surgery on a child whose leg was paralysed by polio, at St. Stephen's Hospital in New Delhi. By straightening atrophied muscles, surgery can help children to live more normal lives, but cannot reverse the paralysis.
A father comforts his daughter, who is recovering from corrective surgery on her right leg, paralysed by polio, at St. Stephen's Hospital in New Delhi.
Children participate in a yoga class that helps stretch their limbs at the Akshay Pratishthan rehabilitation institute in New Delhi. Of the 358 disabled children attending the institute, 120 have been paralysed by polio.
Girls who have been disabled by polio and other diseases queue up at the Amar Jyoti Rehabilitation and Research Centre in New Delhi.
Children at the Akshay Pratishthan rehabilitation institute in New Delhi are encouraged to play vigorously, challenging the limits imposed by polio paralysis.
