ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities reported the sixth polio case of the year on Tuesday after a child in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province contracted the alarming disease.
The National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Regional Reference Laboratory detected the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in stool samples collected from a 1.5-year-old child in Union Council Gulistan 2 area of the Killa Abdullah district in Balochistan.
The affected child developed paralysis symptoms in his leg on June 3, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, a government-led initiative, said in a press release. It added that this was the second case of the year from the Killah Abdullah district.
“This is the fifth case from Balochistan this year,” Dr. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath, coordinator to the prime minister on national health services, said. “The government is working on strengthening routine vaccination rates and health systems in the province, but we cannot defeat this disease alone, the support of parents and communities is critical.”
Dr. Bharath noted that poliovirus has been found in over 40 districts this year, urging parents and caregivers across the country to remain vigilant and ensure that all children under the age of five receive multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine.
Muhammad Anwarul Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) for Polio Eradication, said repeated vaccination is the most effective way to keep children protected from poliovirus.
“The Polio Programme has conducted five vaccination campaigns this year, however, we have faced challenges in implementing full campaigns in many parts of Balochistan due to insecurity and localized protests, which has led to immunity gaps,” Haq said.
He said the program is working with Pakistan’s health ministry and law enforcement agencies to ensure uninterrupted polio drives.
“The Polio Programme has launched a comprehensive case investigation to identify the routes of virus transmission and to locate and vaccinate children who might have missed polio vaccination,” it said.
Polio has been eliminated in developed nations but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. At least 11 policemen have been killed this year while on security duty during vaccination campaigns which are frequently targeted by militants.
Many Pakistanis, particularly those residing in the conservative tribal areas, consider the polio vaccination a Western campaign aimed at sterilizing the country’s population. In 2012, the local Taliban had ordered a ban on immunization against polio in some tribal districts.
Dozens of polio workers have been killed in the country in the line of duty.
