ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 68th poliovirus case of 2024 as the Regional Reference Laboratory (RFL) for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the detection of one more poliovirus cases from DI Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
According to Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme (PPEP), the lab confirmed the case from DI Khan taking the district polio cases tally to 10 and KPK provincial poliovirus positive cases toll to 20. In 2024 as compared with 2023 poliovirus cases have witnessed a significant increase in the country as in 2023 only six poliovirus cases were reported against 68 in 2024.
This is the fourth polio case from Tank and the second case from Kashmore this year. This year nine polio cases have been reported from DI Khan, three from Tank, four from Jacobabad, and one from Sukkur. Pakistan is responding to the resurgence of WPV1 this year with 68 cases reported so far. Of these, 27 are from Balochistan, 20 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
In December, the country has reported 12 polio virus positive cases as on December 2, the NIH confirmed three cases of which one each case was reported from DI Khan, Karachi Keamari and Kashmore. Similarly, on December 13, the NIH confirmed two polio virus cases from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and two from Sindh. In KPK, one polio case each was detected from DI Khan and Tank districts, while in Sindh, one polio virus case was detected in District Jacobabad and one in District Sukkur on December 18 the lab confirmed the case from Jacobabad Sindh. On December 27, one case was reported from Tank District of KPK, one from Kashmore district of Sindh and on December 30, one poliovirus case was reported in District DI Khan.
The Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Programme on Immunization provides vaccinations against 12 childhood disease free of charge at health facilities. It is crucial for parents to ensure vaccination for all their children under the age of five to keep them protected.
The December sub-national polio vaccination campaign in Balochistan province has started on December 30, which will cover all 36 districts of the province for vaccination. A nationwide polio vaccination campaign was conducted from December 16 to December 22 during which vaccinators reached house to house to immunise more than 44 million children under five in 143 districts against polio. It is critical for parents and caregivers to ensure that their children under the age of five receive two drops of the oral polio vaccine whenever a vaccinator knocks on their door to protect children against polio’s paralysing effects.
Polio is incurable, yet entirely preventable with the help of multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine that the Polio Programme brings to children at their doorsteps multiple times a year. Similarly, routine vaccination against 12 childhood preventable diseases, provided free of charge by the Expanded Programme for Immunization, gives additional immunity boost to children to be able to fight off infections such as polio.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
Comments