With sudden increase in poliovirus, Pakistan’s tally of cases stands at 39
At a time when the sudden rise in the number of polio cases has rung alarm bells across the country and the national and international experts have termed the situation quite worrisome, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Sen Ayesha RazaFarooq has stated the situation is not yet out of control and the number could have been much bigger than the current tally i.e. 39 if the corrective measures were not put in place.
She along with Coordinator of the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) Capt (R) AnwarulHaq and other officials was addressing a media engagement session at the NEOC to brief the media persons various measures she and her team had either taken or planned to take to check this trend.
I beg to disagree when you say Pakistan’s polio eradication programme has almost collapsed as there is no let-up in new cases of poliovirus, she said while responding to a journalist’s question. However, she admitted different factors like persistent vaccine hesitancy, security concerns in high-risk areas making access to children impossible, low immunity, population’s unchecked cross border movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, lack of coordination, cultural and religious factors were the key challenges facing the eradication campaign.
It may be mentioned that Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries left with poliovirus while the rest of the world has got rid of it. We are up against poliovirus and have chalked out a comprehensive strategy to meet this challenge, she said. A nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign is also on the cards set to be launched from October 28 to Nov 3, 2024, she said.
She emphasized the government’s strong commitment to polio eradication from the highest office of PM to the provincial and district levels and said that polio eradication was being taken forward as national priority agenda with a consensus roadmap being implemented to interrupt virus transmission by mid-2025.
She said that 39 polio cases highlights that the programme was maintaining effective disease surveillance and not missing the virus anywhere in the country.
“Protecting our children from the scourge of polio remains our collective topmost priority,” she said adding the government was concerned about the surge and each new virus detection was taken as an opportunity to better understand the current dynamics of virus transmission which in turn helps us in refining the response and curb its further spread.”
