Pakistan reported one new polio case in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, raising the previous year’s figure to 69, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said in a statement.
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic; The disease mainly affects children under five years of age and sometimes causes lifelong paralysis. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as safety concerns, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have slowed progress.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication of the National Institute of Health confirmed the detection of the 69th case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in 2024 in the country,” the statement said.
He added that on January 7, the laboratory confirmed a case of Tank, making it the fifth case of 2,024 in the district.
Pakistan has been responding to the resurgence of WPV1 since last year with 69 cases reported. Of them, 27 are from Balochistan, 21 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, respectively, the statement added.
Polio is a crippling disease with no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completing the routine vaccination schedule for all children under five years of age are essential to provide them with high immunity against this terrible disease, the statement continues.
The first polio vaccination campaign of the year is scheduled to take place nationwide from February 3 to 9, 2025. To keep children safe, it is essential that parents welcome vaccinators among themselves and Take your children to get vaccinated.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that Afghanistan reported 25 cases of polio in the year 2024. While Pakistan has reported 68 cases of this crippling disease and the clock is still ticking as reports on the number of samples collected last year are yet to receive.
However, a senior Pakistan Polio Program official said in response that Pakistan has been following the policy of sharing facts and Pakistan’s reporting system is much better compared to that of Afghanistan, which means that there is a strong possibility that multiple cases will be reported. not reported in Afghanistan.
The Pakistan Polio Program carries out multiple mass vaccination campaigns in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Program on Immunization provides vaccines against 12 childhood diseases for free at health centres.
A sub-national polio vaccination campaign was carried out in Punjab, Sindh, KP, AJK, GB and Islamabad from December 16 to 22, vaccinating more than 42 million children.
