ISLAMABAD: The government announced on Sunday that last anti-polio campaign of 2024 will begin today (Monday) across 143 districts in the country, with aim to tackle the alarming rise in polio cases and ensuring maximum immunisation coverage.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are two countries globally, where polio still remains an endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children under five and often causing lifelong paralysis.

Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

This development comes as the total number of polio cases nationwide has risen to 63. The virus has been detected in eight more districts, bringing the affected districts to 83 this year. The virus has also reached the previously uninfected district of Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking via a recorded message, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said that the “last anti-polio campaign of the year 2024 is being launched from December 16.”

An accompanying statement from the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said that the campaign would continue “in 143 specific districts of the country from December 16 to 22”, adding more than 44 million children will be vaccinated against polio in this campaign.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024