ISLAMABAD: A 29-month-old child has been paralyzed by poliovirus in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, health authorities said on Friday, bringing the total number of cases detected in the South Asian nation this year to 16.
The regional reference lab at the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the virus in the child belonging to Sindh’s Hyderabad district, according to the country’s polio eradication program.
Out of the 16 cases reported this year, 12 are from Balochistan, three from Sindh and one from the eastern Punjab province, with 62 districts affected in total.
“Yet again the poliovirus has found a vulnerable child and paralyzed her for life,” Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister’s focal person on polio eradication said on Friday. “This is a clear reminder that until we eradicate this virus from our country, no child anywhere is safe from its devastating effects.”
She said the WPV1 virus was consistently being reported in the district’s sewage samples for the last four months, putting the lives of children at risk.
“We are operating on an emergency footing in all provinces given the intensity of the outbreak and extent of virus spread,” she said, adding that authorities were launching an extensive polio vaccination campaign from September 9.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Anwar-ul-Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication, said a thorough investigation was being conducted to identify the origins of the virus and immunization of children.
“Poliovirus has been circulating in adjacent districts of Karachi and Hyderabad for several months,” he said. “Every child’s wellbeing is important to us, and we will be launching a vaccination campaign in all affected districts from September 9 to boost children’s immunity.”
Polio has been eliminated in developed nations but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Many Pakistanis, particularly those residing in the conservative tribal areas, consider 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.
Nearly a dozen policemen have been killed this year while on security duty during vaccination campaigns which are frequently targeted by militants.
