Polio challenge

With its first reported case of polio in over a year — discovered in North Waziristan — Pakistan will not be able to claim a polio-free status yet again. In addition to Afghanistan, Pakistan remains only one of the two remaining countries in the world where the poliovirus is still infecting children. Successive governments have been making claims about nearly eliminating the virus but the latest case is proof that the country still has a long way to go before it gets rid of the dubious distinction of being polio endemic. Somehow, the polio vaccine is not reaching all the children across the country despite polio teams’ courageous efforts to administer the doses. Perhaps nowhere in the world have polio teams — or any health teams — have been targeted the way polio workers have in Pakistan, attacked and shot while performing their duties. These attacks have not taken place in remote areas alone; even towns and cities are not immune to such attacks.

To tackle the polio crisis, our health authorities need to identify union councils of high-risk localities for the virus and plan special polio campaigns with foolproof security to polio teams. In many cases, even security personnel accompanying the polio teams have been targeted. The possible impact of the first reported case in a year will be debilitating for the entire vaccination campaign. Perhaps, the polio teams could focus on specific areas and districts that could be vulnerable to the virus, and chalk out an extraordinary strategy to keep Pakistan safe from polio. One positive sign is that the largest city and economic hub of Pakistan, Karachi, has remained polio-free for the past two years. But that should not be a cause for complacency.

A major reason for Pakistan still being a polio-endemic country is the inability of local administrations to convince those families that are reluctant to allow their children to get the polio vaccination. The ‘polio drop’ is of paramount significance in our fight against this virus. The country was aiming to achieve polio-free status this year but with this new case it may have to rethink parts of its polio drive as well — given that the latest case is of the wild poliovirus. With so much effort and so many sacrifices by Pakistan’s polio workers, it is time Pakistan sees the last of the poliovirus. The latest case has no doubt dampened spirits, which were high after such a long stretch of no new case, but this must only serve to add renewed vigour to the anti-polio campaign.