Rumania and world aid agencies launched a vaccinati on programme on Monday they hope will eradicate the crippling disease polio, drawing the former communist country into a worldwide anti-polio plan. In hundreds of run-down local medical centres on the wintry southern plains, mothers brought their babies and toddlers for two drops of vaccine on the tongue.The first phase was aimed at treating 800,000 children under five years old, with another 1.2 million targeted later this year. The Roma minority -- perhaps 2.0 - 4.0 million of Rumanias 23 million population -- is particularly susceptible to the disease, having hadlow rates of immunisation. Polio attacks the nervous system and cripples major muscle groups, usually the limbs and lungs. In 1981 there were 125 cases in Rumania. Disfigured victims, often Roma, crawling on their hands and knees, are a regular sight. ``People used to say Roma parents beat their children to make them beggars but it's not true, this is polio,``said Roma social worker Simona Farcas, working on the polio programme. It is part of a worldwide $200 million programme launched by Rotaryin 1985 with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to eradicate polio myelitis worldwide by the year 2000.``It is a frightening disease but it can be eradicated,`` said Rotaryprogramme director Dr Edward Trainer. It is already gone in South America, much of the developed world, and extensive programmes are under way in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.