Polio is still epidemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Islamabad: There is a stir in Pakistan with the arrival of 2 new cases of polio. With the emergence of these 2 cases, the number of patients suffering from this deadly infection in the country has increased to 41 this year. According to the report of Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, two new cases of polio infection were reported on Thursday and Friday. Let us tell you that globally October 24 is celebrated as Polio Day. These two cases, reported in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, are a setback to the country’s efforts to eliminate polio virus.
About 3.5 year old girl infected in Loralai district of Balochistan
The report says that a girl of about 3.5 years has been infected in Loralai district of Balochistan. She became a victim of polio on 8 October. This has been confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication here at the National Institutes of Health. According to the newspaper, this is the first case of polio to be reported in Lorelai district this year. It said that the infected girl was not given anti-polio dose during the polio vaccination campaign. Meanwhile, a second case of polio was reported in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the patient is a boy of about 2.5 years.
Polio is still epidemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan
According to Dawn news, so far 21 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, 6 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Punjab and Islamabad. In the backdrop of increase in polio cases in the country, a campaign is being launched across the country next week to administer polio doses to more than 4.5 crore children under the ‘Pakistan Polio Programme’. A large-scale strategy has been made to eliminate this serious disease in Pakistan by June 2025. According to WHO, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the countries in the world where polio still remains an epidemic.
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