Pakistan says revamping polio program as virus tally reaches 45 this year

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq, has said the government is revamping its polio eradication program to make the country free of the virus by mid next year, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.

Two new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the country’s polio program said late Friday, bringing the nationwide tally to 45 this year. So far this year, 22 polio cases have been reported from Balochistan province, 12 from Sindh, nine from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

“All elements of the [polio] program, including surveillance, communication, and operations, have been revamped,” Farooq was quoted by Radio Pakistan as saying. “The new approach brings together federal, provincial, and district authorities in a coordinated effort to eliminate polio.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Since late 2018, Pakistan has seen a resurgence of cases and increased spread of poliovirus, highlighting the fragility of gains achieved in the preceding years when cases dropped in 2023 to six, from 20 in 2022 and just one in 2022. Misinformation about vaccinations and attacks by militants on polio teams have been major impediments to immunization campaigns.

At least seven people, including five school students, were killed and 23 injured in a blast in southwestern Pakistan that targeted a polio vaccination team vehicle on Friday, police said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Last Tuesday, a policeman was killed in an attack on a health office that manages door-to-door polio vaccination campaigns.

The attacks have coincided with Pakistan’s third nationwide polio campaign this year, launched last week with the aim to administer vaccine drops to more than 45 million children.