Islamabad: Pakistan has achieved its highest coverage of diphtheria, tetanus and people’s cough (DTP) to 87 percent in 2024, and the UN specialized agencies expect Pakistan to launch their human papillomavirus (HPV) in 2025, according to data from 2024 released by UNIATEF and WHO on Tuesday.
The data show that the southern Asia has reached its highest immunization coverage for children, according to the new data published by the WHO and UNICEF by 2024. This marks a milestone in the impulse of the region to protect all children from preventable diseases for vaccines, the UN agencies say.
The new data show that strong governmental commitments, investments and associations have promoted southern Asia to achieve their highest immunization coverage.
In 2024, 92pc of babies in the region received their third dose of the diphtheria vaccine, tetanus and people’s cough (DTP), a crucial global indicator of vaccination progress.
Pakistan can become the only country in the world that has poliovirus, Mustafa Kamal to the Senate tells Health Minister Mustafa
This marks an increase of two percentage points since 2023. During the same period, the proportion of children who received their first dose of DTP increased from 93pc to 95pc.
These figures show a strong recovery, overcoming the levels prior to COVID, which reflects the efforts of the governments of southern Asia to prioritize the health of children.
In addition, there was a reduction of 27 percent in the number of children who did not receive a single dose of the vaccine, also known as zero dose children, decreasing from 2.5 million to 1.8 million in a year.
“This is a moment of pride for Asia del Sur. More children are protected today than ever before, thanks to the tireless first -line health workers, the strong government leadership, the support of donors and partners and unwavering confidence of families,” said UNICEF regional director for southern Asia, Sanjay Wijesekera.
“But we cannot forget the millions of children who are not vaccinated or not vaccinated. Now it is time to push even more, especially the rural areas, to give each child their right to medical care in the first years of life,” he said.
However, while the region jumped to immunizing children in 2024, more than 2.9 million children remain without vaccination and, therefore, without protection. With this in mind, UNICEF and who have urged governments in southern Asia to maintain political commitment and increase national financing for immunization.
‘Only country with poliovirus prevalence’
In a separate development, the Minister of Health, Mustafa Kamal, told the Senate on Tuesday that Pakistan could become the only country that has poliovirus as in the vaccination of Afghanistan’s polyomyelitis, does not face obstacles and people do not refuse to vaccinate their children against paralyzing disease.
Responding to a call notice in the Senate, the Minister of Health said that, apart from Kandahar, a door -to -door campaign is celebrated throughout Afghanistan.
“In Kandahar’s ads are made in the mosques and people are called to come to their children being administered from poliomyelitis in mosques,” he said.
Senator Abdul Shakoor Khan moved the call notice so that the cases of polyomyelitis are being reported and that there are erroneous concepts with respect to the disease and suggested that religious academics must be involved to play their role to stop the disease.
Kamal said that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where cases of polyomyelitis are reported.
He said he went to Baluchistan to discuss the issue of polio. Last year, he said, 79 cases of polio were reported and this year only 14 cases have been reported so far, of which five cases have been found in Bannu, where there were people who had refused to vaccinate their children.
He said there is a perception that there is resistance against the impulse of polyomyelitis in Afghanistan, but the fact is that an extensive impulse of polio in Afghanistan is being carried out to eradicate the disease.
He said that the previous police were being used to guarantee the administration of the polyomyelitis vaccine in Pakistan, but that it stopped it and now the influencers of the area are being used to convince people that they should save their children’s lives and vaccinate their children.
Posted in Dawn, July 16, 2025
