India free from Yaws, Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus: WHO

India today received certificates from World Health Organisation, recognizing the elimination of Yaws and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) from the country. Union Health Minister J P Nadda in a tweet informed that India received WHO's certificates for MNTE &

Yaws-free India at 69th session of Regional Committee of WHO at, Colombo.

The health minister received the certificate from WHO Director General Margaret Chan and its South East Asian Region Director General Poonam Khetrapal Singh. In May this year, WHO



had declared India yaws-free after a team of experts verified interruption of disease transmission in the country. 

India is the first country under the 2012 WHO neglected tropical diseases (NTD) roadmap to eliminate yaws, a disease known to affect the most underserved population. India had eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus . Until a few decades ago India reported 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 neonatal tetanus cases annually which was reduced to less than one case per 1 000 live births in all 675 districts.