ISLAMABAD: Pakistan urgently needs to “overhaul the leadership and strategy” of its polio program since the transmission of the virus remains widespread in the country and its northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become an area of particular concern, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in its recent report on the rapid surge of disease in different parts of the world.
The report was prepared after the organization’s Emergency Committee held its 23rd meeting under the International Health Regulations last month.
The meeting “unanimously agreed that the risk of international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and recommended the extension of Temporary Recommendations for a further three months.”
“The progress made in recent years appears to have reversed, with the committee’s assessment that the risk of international spread is at the highest point since 2014 when the PHEIC was declared,” said the report.
It also named Pakistan among the countries of concern since it witnessed a resurgence of wild poliovirus (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV).
“The issues noted previously by the committee, including the refusal by individuals and communities to accept vaccination, and problems with the politicization of the national polio program are still being addressed [in Pakistan]. Added pressure is now on the program due to confirmation of detection of cVDPV2 in several provinces,” said the report.
“The committee noted that based on the sequencing of viruses, there were recent instances of international spread of viruses from Pakistan to Afghanistan and also from Afghanistan to Pakistan. The recent increased frequency of WPV1 international spread between the two countries suggests that rising transmission in Pakistan and Afghanistan correlates with increased risk of WPV1 exportation beyond the single epidemiological block formed by the two countries,” it added.
However, “the committee noted the continued cooperation and coordination between Afghanistan and Pakistan, particularly in reaching high-risk mobile populations that frequently cross the international border and welcomed the all-age vaccination now being taken at key border points between the two countries.”
The WHO extended travel restrictions on Pakistan for another three months and pointed out that the rapid emergence of multiple cVDPV2 strains in several countries was unprecedented, highly concerning, and not yet fully understood.