Pakistan polio program says 71 cases reported in 2024

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities on Tuesday confirmed one more polio case of 2024, which took last year’s nationwide count to 71.
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 laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in a male child in the Jacobabad district of the southern Sindh province. The case — the fifth one in Jacobabad last year — was reported on December 27, 2024, according to Pakistan polio program.
“Pakistan has been responding to an intense resurgence of WPV1, with 71 cases reported in 2024,” the polio program said in a statement. “Of these, 27 are from Balochistan, 21 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 21 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.”
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
The Pakistan polio program is scheduled to hold first nationwide vaccination drive of this year from Feb. 3 till Feb. 9.
“It is crucial for parents to ensure vaccination for all their children under the age of five to keep them protected,” it said.