Polio cripples two more kids; national count touches 47

Islamabad : Be it parental refusal or fake finger-marking, there can be no justification for the rising number of polio cases in Pakistan at a time when the country should have been inching towards zero poliovirus transmission. Another two children—one of them an 18 month-old male child from Quetta and the other a 10 month-old girl child from Bannu—were afflicted with the crippling disease on Friday, taking the country’s national count to 47 so far this year.

A point in time comparison with 2018 shows Pakistan as having reported 47 cases from 17 districts in 2019, versus only 3 cases from one district Dukki in 2018. If the 9 polio cases reported in the second half of 2018 were to be added to this year’s total, then the country is seen to have reported 56 new cases since the PTI government’s coming into power. And the situation could not have been grimmer.

Announcing the latest case from Balochistan through an official statement, the National Emergency Operations Centre has termed investigations as revealing that the case was a consequence of ‘fake finger-marking’ by the child’s parents. Finger marking is the standard practice for polio eradication teams to ascertain whether children have been vaccinated during campaigns or not. In certain communities with severe misconceptions about polio vaccine, parents have been marking the fingernails of their children on their own in order to avoid vaccination during campaigns.

Fake finger-marking and parental refusal are not the key reasons for Pakistan’s rising polio burden, as is currently being trumpeted. Data sheets recording weekly surveillance reports show that only 8 of the 45 cases that had been reported up until July 25 were refusals. As such, it is crucial for Pakistan’s polio leadership to desist from blaming parents in every statement, and to instead truthfully analyze the factors impeding Pakistan’s progress in the zero polio case journey. A closer analysis of data underlines the need for serious brainstorming so that the problem is approached through a multipronged strategy encompassing community awareness through key influencers; enhancing routine immunization coverage, and improving safe water and sanitation, among other interventions that the polio leadership knows better.

The NEOC maintains that the child from Quetta, who is a resident of Chiltan Town, had not received any dose of polio vaccine during campaigns. His family is alleged to have resorted to fake finger-marking in order to lead teams to believe that he had been vaccinated. “After the child developed symptoms of paralysis in both limbs, his mother regretted not having gotten her child vaccinated,” the statement mentions. The child did have two routine immunization doses as per parental recall, but the parents did not have a vaccination card for confirmation.

As for the latest case from Bannu, the child is a resident of Sedgai, UC Takhti Khel, Tehsil Wazir, and her vaccination history is under investigation.

Expressing his views, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Babar Bin Atta urged communities to reject the anti-vaccine propaganda and to end practices such as fake finger-marking. He further stated that such misconceptions and practices are keeping Pakistan’s children vulnerable to the virus and are ultimately detrimental to their long-term health and well-being.

Of the 47 polio cases reported from across Pakistan so far this year, 36 are from Khyber Pakthunkwa and the Khyber Pakthunkwa Tribal Districts, 5 from Punjab, 3 each from Balochistan and Sindh.