Two more polio cases reported from Zhob, Tank

Officials now report 28 cases in 2024, raising concerns over country’s expanding public health challenge

By M Waqar Bhatti
October 03, 2024
A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door polio vaccination campaign in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 23, 2022. —AFP/File
A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door polio vaccination campaign in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 23, 2022. —AFP/File

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s fight against polio has encountered fresh setbacks with the confirmation of two new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in children from the districts of Zhob and Tank.

Health officials now report a total of 28 cases in 2024, raising concerns over the country’s expanding public health challenge. The latest victims are a young girl from Zhob, Balochistan, and a boy from Tank in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), according to the Regional Reference Laboratory at the National Institute of Health.

This is the second polio case in Zhob this year and the first in Tank. Previous tests of sewage samples from both districts had already confirmed the presence of the virus, signifying ongoing transmission risks to children.

While most cases in 2024 have been concentrated in KP and Balochistan, positive environmental samples have been detected in Islamabad and various districts of Sindh and Punjab, signalling that the virus is still active in several parts of the country.

In the light of these developments, the government has intensified its focus on ensuring that all children under the age of five are vaccinated. A special initiative, the “Big Catch-Up,” is underway to cover children who have missed routine vaccinations. This effort is vital to combatting not only polio but also 11 other vaccine-preventable childhood diseases.