India launches massive campaign to eradicate polio - in pictures

Polio vaccination team members draw up the day's campaign plan before dawn in Kosi village ,113 miles from Patna, north-western India Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Salit Kumar, a polio vaccination team member, carries vaccines to Tilkeshwar village for a vaccination campaign Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Rudimentary transport arrangements for the campiagn include bicycles and riverboats Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Crossing a river using a boat and rope near Tilkeshwar village Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

A health worker enters Tilkeshwar village Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Polio can cause paralysis and wasting of muscles Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

A bag filled with polio vaccines, ready for use in the nationwide campaign Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Sanjana Shoba administers polio drops to a child Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Sanjana Shoba treats a child Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Children who have received the vaccine have their fingers or nails marked with indelible ink to ensure none have missed their treatment Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

A worker asks the mother of this child if they have received the vaccination in Patna, India Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

Walls are marked with the polio vaccination history of the household near the town of Ghaziabad in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

Zuhaib, aged three, was diagnosed with polio at an early age, near Ghaziabad Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

Polio workers update their records in Ghaziabad Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP