Another child crippled by polio virus in Sindh

Karachi: Polio Eradication Initiative Friday said one more child has been crippled by the Wild Polio Virus 1 (WPV1) in Tehsil Dokri, District Larkana of Sindh, raising the total confirmed polio cases in Sindh to 20 and 58 in entire Pakistan.

“An 82-months old girl, Badshah Zadi d/o Gulab Sargani has been crippled by the polio virus in Tehsil Dokri in Larkana district of Sindh. Now the total number of children affected with polio has reached at 20 in Sindh and 58 in the entire country”, an official of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Sindh said.

Officials said the National Institute of Health (NIH) had confirmed that she was affected with polio virus and added that the child developing weakness in her left upper and lower limb, on which her stool samples were sent for the analysis.

According to parents she had received OPV on multiple occasion but had no routine immunization or IPV. Further investigation on the claims is ongoing.A spokesman for the provincial EOC said that Sindh had back to back successful campaigns from December 2019 to March 2020 which had gone a long way to put the polio programme on track.

However, the global polio eradication initiative had to be halted since the outbreak of COVID-19 and no campaigns could be conducted since.“As we move forward, EOC is planning a small-scale outbreak response campaign in Karachi from the 20th of July and is also planning on a larger scale campaign in the province in August to protect children from polio.

The details of for the upcoming campaigns are under discussion and information will be provided once the decisions are finalized. While we deal with the Pandemic we must also deal with childhood immunization and we will deliver these campaigns with the safety of all stakeholders in mind”, he added.

Children can be saved from childhood diseases like polio through vaccination and we seek the media’s help to raise awareness regarding this, especially during the upcoming campaign.