PESHAWAR: The first polio virus case of the year was reported in Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Regional Reference Laboratory (RRL) for polio eradication confirmed on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s polio eradication programme stated that the virus has affected a girl from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district.
Pakistan has recorded 2024 year as one of its worst years for the ongoing battle against polio in recent times as the country reported 68 cases in the year, compared with only six at the same time in 2023.
This figure is more than 2.5 times higher when compared to cases reported during the past three years( 2023, 22, and 2021).
Health authorities confirmed that the latest 13-month-old victim, who showed symptoms of polio on November 25, had contracted Wild poliovirus type 1. Last year, Tank had reported four cases of polio.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 20 cases, Sindh 19, and Punjab and Islamabad one each. Islamabad has reported its first polio case in 16 years. The capital has reported the polio case after 16 years.
It is a major setback for a country that as recently as 2021 saw only one case in total, following a period of more than 15 months without any documented cases.
Pakistan’s fight against polio
In 2021, authorities had envisioned Pakistan becoming polio-free in the next three years, a goal that initially seemed achievable. Everything was seemingly on track for polio eradication as the cases had decreased significantly, dropping from 147 in 2019 to 84 in 2020.
However, the numbers have since risen again.
Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are two countries where polio remains endemic. According to WHO, Afghanistan has so far reported 23 cases this year.
Data from the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme shows that in 2024, 27 cases have been reported in Balochistan, 19 in Sindh, 20 in KP, and one each in Punjab and the country’s capital, Islamabad. The capital has reported the polio case after 16 years.
Also Read: 2024 marks grim setback in Pakistan’s fight against polio
In 2023, Pakistan had reported only six polio cases, 70 percent less than the total cases reported in 2022.
The health authorities carried out nationwide the last anti-polio drive of 2024 in mid-December in 143 districts of the country to inoculate 44 million children under the age of 5.
Recently, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif reiterated to make Pakistan a polio-free country and said that the federation along with all the provinces were taking steps at polio eradication.
He said that he had consulted all the provinces on the polio eradication measure, and together they would eradicate the disease.
