PESHAWAR: In a major setback for polio eradication efforts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as many as 13 new cases were reported in the province in a single day on Saturday.
It is the biggest number of polio cases emerging in a province in a single day. According to the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Peshawar, most of the new cases were Type-2 polio cases. Of the 13 fresh cases, seven were reported from Khyber tribal district and one each was reported from Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Mardan, Nowshera, Lower Dir and Bajaur tribal district.
Out of the total 25 Type-2 polio cases in Pakistan this year, 24 have been reported from KP. Last year, 22 Type-2 cases were reported from Pakistan in which the KP’s share was 16. Type-2 virus vaccine was stopped in Pakistan in 2016, but it was resumed in 2019 after emergence of fresh cases. It is important to note that Type-2 does not cause paralysis.
Pakistan had controlled poliovirus to a great extent in 2017 and 2018 during which only eight and 12 cases were reported respectively. But the 2019 proved a precarious year for anti-polio efforts as 144 cases were reported and now the 2020 has also started dangerously.
While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from the crippling disease. With each vaccination of children below the age of five years, their protection against the virus is increased. No vaccination means more vulnerability to the virus particularly in Pakistan where it is endemic.
Currently, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world which have not fully eradicated polio. Experts believe that polio vaccination efforts cannot succeed completely until the refusing parents are convinced to cooperate with vaccination teams.
The KP government has employed different strategies to make the refusing parents agree to vaccinate their children, but still there are patches where parents don’t cooperate with vaccination teams and that is the main stumbling block in polio eradication efforts.
The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) turned 2019 a horrible year for Pakistan polio eradication programme mainly due to politicisation of the programme. The IMB report pointed out that major polio outbreaks have occurred in North and South KP in second and third quarters of 2019, while the situation of other provinces is also not very encouraging.
