Latest poliovirus case in Hyderabad takes Pakistan's tally to 24 this year

• Two-and-a-half-year-old child diagnosed with poliovirus.
• Latest polio case comes day after KP reported its 2nd case.
• Rise in cases leading to increased scrutiny of eradication efforts.
  

KARACHI: The total number of poliovirus cases recorded in Pakistan this year climbed to 24 on Saturday after a two-and-a-half-year-old child from Sindh's Hyderabad was diagnosed with the virus.

According to sources at the National Emergency Operations Centre, the child, hailing from Hyderabad's Neronkot area, was left paralysed by the virus, marking the city's second polio case,.

The latest case in Hyderabad takes the province's total number of children affected by the current poliovirus outbreak to five.

The latest polio case comes a day after authorities had confirmed that a 10-month-old baby girl in district Kohat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was diagnosed with the virus, marking the northwestern province's second case this year.

The infant from Tehsil Darra Adamkhel had contracted the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) that left her paralysed on September 12.

Before that, authorities had confirmed that a 30-month-old boy from Pishin, Balochistan, was struck by the poliovirus marking the province's 15th case this year.

All these cases were reported within this week marking almost a daily growth in the number of polio cases, leading to increased scrutiny of the country's polio eradication efforts.

So far, Balochistan remains the epicentre of the outbreak with 15 confirmed cases, while Sindh has now reported five. Additionally, Punjab and Islamabad have each recorded one case, while KP has reported two.

Taking notice of the latest polio case reported in Hyderabad, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah sought a report from the provincial health department. He urged the nation to "unite and eradicate polio".

"The world is looking for new ways of development and we can't get rid of polio," said the CM before advising the health department to initiate a special polio campaign.

The chief minister advised parents to "voluntarily administer the polio vaccine to their children".

Earlier this week, Muhammad Anwarul Haq, the national coordinator for the Polio Emergency Operations Centre, emphasised the urgency of addressing gaps in efforts to fight this disease.

"Every missed vaccination is an opportunity for the virus to win," he warned.

Calling for collective action from both the government and the public, Haq highlighted that the solution lies in ensuring timely and repeated vaccinations for all children.

Meanwhile, Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister's focal person for polio eradication, also voiced frustration at the lack of progress and immunisation coverage as a result of parental refusals, often due to misinformation or mistrust.

Pakistan’s polio eradication programme organised an anti-polio campaign in 115 districts of the country this month in which 33 million children under the age of five years were given polio vaccinations.

However, the programme continues to face significant challenges, particularly in areas where insecurity, misinformation, and parental refusals hinder vaccination campaigns.

Despite these obstacles, authorities have updated the National Polio Eradication Emergency Operations Plan and have planned two major door-to-door vaccination campaigns later this year in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus.