Pakistan has reported another case of polio virus in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, authorities said on Monday, taking the nationwide tally to 68 this year.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad confirmed the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan district. This is the 10th polio case of the district this year. “Pakistan is responding to the resurgence of WPV1 this year,” the country’s polio program said in a statement. “It is crucial for parents to ensure vaccination for all their children under the age of five to keep them protected.”
Of the 68 cases reported this year, 27 were from Balochistan, 20 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, according to the polio program.
It said a sub-national polio vaccination campaign was conducted across Punjab, Sindh, KP, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad on December 16-22, vaccinating over 42 million children.
The Balochistan government had postponed the anti-polio drive for two weeks due to security threats and a lack of preparedness stemming from a boycott of the campaign by provincial health staff.
“The campaign’s second phase started today [Monday] in Balochistan,” the polio program said. “To keep children safe, it is critical for parents to welcome vaccinators among them and bring their children forward for vaccination.”
Separately, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday in a meeting with Polio Eradication Team emphasized the importance of increasing the use of technology across all health sectors, including polio eradication, to modernize public health monitoring systems and achieve better outcomes.
The prime minister met with the polio eradication team to discuss the ongoing efforts to eliminate polio from Pakistan.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Sharif shared that he had received a letter from Bill Gates, the Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in which Gates praised the ongoing efforts in Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign. He lauded the tireless work of the polio workers in the country.
The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other national and international partners for their support, which has been instrumental in advancing health initiatives and collaborative efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister also directed the formulation of a structured roster for visiting high-risk polio-affected areas during the campaign to ensure even more effective results.
Despite these efforts, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted the unfortunate rise in the number of polio-affected children in the country, calling for even greater collective efforts to address the issue. He reiterated the importance of ensuring the security of polio workers, emphasizing that their safety cannot be underestimated and called for all possible measures to be taken in this regard.
The prime minister was briefed on the latest developments in the polio eradication campaign, with a focus on the significant role played by local communities in making the initiative successful.
Nguồn bài viết : AG Trực Tuyến
