A total of 67 new polio cases have been reported positive in the country during the current year. Out of these 67 cases, some 16 were reported in Sindh, 22 in Punjab, 5 in Islamabad, 23 in NWFP and 01 in Balochistan, an official in the ministry of health told Business Recorder on Friday.
It has been observed that the poliovirus hit the country after every four to five years, he said, adding this year the virus might hit the country. The situation indicates not only the rebirth of the virus but also its uninterrupted spread, he said.
He said that eradication of polio is technically possible, but at the same time we need to make parents realise that mass vaccination campaigns are aimed at regularly supplementing the routine immunisation to protect children, both in endemic and polio-free areas.
He said that the poliovirus could travel long distances and endangered children everywhere. These cases were reported from Nawabshah district, Hyderabad, Shikarpur, Karachi, Mirpurkhas, Naushehro Feroze, Jacobabad and Dadu.
He said that it is also considered by health workers that polio situation would remain unchanged unless continued environmental surveillance activities were ensured and sanitation and hygiene conditions were equally improved in all urban and rural areas of the province. He said that the health workers involved in the anti-polio programme complained that there were many loopholes in recording the vaccinated children. Vaccinators marked many children as covered but when cross-checked these proved otherwise, he said.
He said that in some areas, vaccinators had shown 15 to 20 percent more children as vaccinated than the actual number of immunised children. Meanwhile, a study of the reported cases indicated widespread circulation of wild polio virus type-1 having its origin in Karachi which is now considered to be a reservoir serving for WPV1 circulation in the province.
Pakistan is still among quite a few countries where considerable and repeated prevalence of the disease is witnessed, despite years of efforts made both by the national and the international health organisations and agencies involving thousands of volunteers. If one retraces the polio victims for the year, it can be said that the first half of 2008 remained disturbing for the health managers and polio campaigners of Sindh. The province, which had been reporting one case per month since May 2007, had seen average two cases per month in 2008.
The situation called for a review and accountability of the quarters concerned in the province, but the pressure was reduced later as other provinces and the federal capital also started reporting polio cases.
Islamabad had not reported any polio case since December 2003, Azad Jammu and Kashmir had also not reported any such case since June 2000 and Fata had remained polio-free since 1998 while Punjab showed only one case in 2007.
There is a dire need for intensifying the drives to eradicate poliovirus from the province by involving all stakeholders, including parents of the immunity-deserving children. It is strange that workers were still facing the problem of refusal of OPV even in a peaceful and enlightened province like Sindh and city like Karachi.
The immunisation programme in Sindh had about few months back announced polio vaccine administration posts to be set up for inter-city and inter-province child travellers at various entry and exit points on a round-the-clock basis.
However, the plan proved an elusive dream, as funds could not be made available for the posting of staff at the proposed posts. There is a need to protect children who travel in or out of various cities in the province irrespective of their place of origin, otherwise the goal of eliminating polio from Sindh and the country would be hard to achieve.
The permanent centres were supposed to be established at different points in Hyderabad, Umerkot, Sukkur, Dadu, Kandhkot, Larkana, Jacobabad and Ghotki, besides in Saddar, Bin Qasim, Gadap, Keamari, Shah Faisal and Landhi towns of Karachi. There is a need for maintaining vigilance at all levels to ensure effective campaigns, strong surveillance and more focus on improving routine immunisation.
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