Islamabad, Oct 2 (PTI) Pakistan has reported 26 polio cases this year with two fresh cases of the crippling disease being detected in the Sindh province, authorities said on Wednesday.
The latest cases were confirmed in the Karachi East and Sujawal districts of the province, jolting the country’s efforts to eradicate the poliovirus.
“This is the first case of the year from Karachi East and Sujawal where environmental samples have shown the presence of poliovirus in recent months, indicating that it is circulating in communities and posing a terrible risk to the wellbeing of children,” said a statement by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq termed the new cases as “heartbreaking” for the Pakistani children who were still being threatened by an easily preventable disease.
“There is no cure for polio,” she said, asserting that repeated vaccination can keep children protected from the paralytic effects of the “horrible” disease.
She urged parents, community leaders and teachers to take immediate steps to get all children in their care vaccinated.
“No child anywhere is safe until all children in Pakistan are repeatedly vaccinated for polio, building a wall of protection so the virus cannot break through,” she said.
The Pakistan Polio Programme is implementing a strategic roadmap to control virus spread and interrupt transmission by mid-2025, focusing on reaching every child, improving campaign quality, building community trust and vaccinating all mobile and migrant populations.
As part of this roadmap, the programme concluded a mass vaccination campaign last month that reached 33 million children under five in 115 districts of the country. A second mass vaccination is being planned from October 28. The Coordinator of the National Emergency Center for Polio Eradication, Muhammad Anwarul Haq, said the programme is working with the provincial team to plan effective campaign strategies that reach every child in the province with the vaccine.
Of the 26 polio cases reported in Pakistan this year – 15 were from Balochistan, seven from Sindh, two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic, according to the World Health Organisation. PTI SH GRS GRS GRS GRS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.