LONDON: In what is a serious threat to India, Pakistan has recorded 206 cases of paralysis caused by wild polio virus in 2014.
This is the highest number of cases on record by October in Pakistan in its history.
Nineteen new wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) cases — the deadliest strain were reported in the past week in Pakistan.
This brings the total number of WPV1 cases in 2014 to 206 compared to 39 in 2013 by this date.
The most recent case had onset of paralysis on September 22, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
WHO is now worried that the virus could soon be imported by close neighbours India.
The 10th meeting of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) held in London recently concluded that the goal of stopping global polio transmission by the end of 2014 will be missed because of the worrying transmission in Pakistan and active export of the virus to other countries.
A Pakistani health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door polio campaign in Islamabad. (Getty Images)
According to WHO, Pakistan now accounts for nearly 80% of polio cases globally and is now the "greatest single risk" to eradicating the crippling disease due to a ban imposed by militants on immunization.
"Pakistan remains the greatest single risk to the achievement of global polio eradication," WHO said.
The situation is primarily due to a lack of access to children for vaccination, largely owing to a continuing ban on immunization imposed by militants in the North and South Waziristan, and insecurity and killing of polio workers in the field".
WHO admitted that currently Pakistan appears likely to become the last polio endemic country in the world.
This poses a serious threat to neighbours India which was in March 2014 declared polio free.
The WHO has also confirmed that poliovirus from Pakistan has spread to Israel, West Bank and Gaza, and Iraq.
Poliovirus also spread from Pakistan to Syria, causing a major outbreak during the country's civil war.
IMB confirmed that it "cannot conclude that the grip on polio control is yet sufficiently strong. This is particularly because with just four months remaining until the 2014 deadline for stopping polio transmission, Pakistan has little hope of meeting this deadline, and Nigeria, with impending elections, is at real risk of losing the vital opportunity".
WHO says "Pakistan's situation is particularly problematic. Its polio control programme is years behind that in the other endemic countries. As currently constituted, the structure of the Prime Minister's Polio Monitoring Cell does not allow effective action against polio. A much stronger form of management and co-ordination is required".
"It is an indictment of this country's programme that even in the easier eradication context of the low season, Pakistan has almost as many cases in the first 4 months of 2014 as in the whole of 2012 - and 9 times as many as in the same period in 2013.
While some progress has been made in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta, this is not sufficient to stop poliovirus transmission. It is vital that the prime minister and president urgently activate an emergency body with the resources, power and capability to transform this grave situation," WHO has said.
The deadline for global polio eradication has been repeatedly postponed and each time missed: the deadline years of 2000, 2004 and 2012 have all passed without the ultimate goal being reached.
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i dont know why is this happening in pakistan.:-( ..guys pls do ur bit, we want polio free world.
This is the highest number of cases on record by October in Pakistan in its history.
Nineteen new wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) cases — the deadliest strain were reported in the past week in Pakistan.
This brings the total number of WPV1 cases in 2014 to 206 compared to 39 in 2013 by this date.
The most recent case had onset of paralysis on September 22, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
WHO is now worried that the virus could soon be imported by close neighbours India.
The 10th meeting of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) held in London recently concluded that the goal of stopping global polio transmission by the end of 2014 will be missed because of the worrying transmission in Pakistan and active export of the virus to other countries.
A Pakistani health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a door-to-door polio campaign in Islamabad. (Getty Images)
According to WHO, Pakistan now accounts for nearly 80% of polio cases globally and is now the "greatest single risk" to eradicating the crippling disease due to a ban imposed by militants on immunization.
"Pakistan remains the greatest single risk to the achievement of global polio eradication," WHO said.
The situation is primarily due to a lack of access to children for vaccination, largely owing to a continuing ban on immunization imposed by militants in the North and South Waziristan, and insecurity and killing of polio workers in the field".
WHO admitted that currently Pakistan appears likely to become the last polio endemic country in the world.
This poses a serious threat to neighbours India which was in March 2014 declared polio free.
The WHO has also confirmed that poliovirus from Pakistan has spread to Israel, West Bank and Gaza, and Iraq.
Poliovirus also spread from Pakistan to Syria, causing a major outbreak during the country's civil war.
IMB confirmed that it "cannot conclude that the grip on polio control is yet sufficiently strong. This is particularly because with just four months remaining until the 2014 deadline for stopping polio transmission, Pakistan has little hope of meeting this deadline, and Nigeria, with impending elections, is at real risk of losing the vital opportunity".
WHO says "Pakistan's situation is particularly problematic. Its polio control programme is years behind that in the other endemic countries. As currently constituted, the structure of the Prime Minister's Polio Monitoring Cell does not allow effective action against polio. A much stronger form of management and co-ordination is required".
"It is an indictment of this country's programme that even in the easier eradication context of the low season, Pakistan has almost as many cases in the first 4 months of 2014 as in the whole of 2012 - and 9 times as many as in the same period in 2013.
While some progress has been made in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta, this is not sufficient to stop poliovirus transmission. It is vital that the prime minister and president urgently activate an emergency body with the resources, power and capability to transform this grave situation," WHO has said.
The deadline for global polio eradication has been repeatedly postponed and each time missed: the deadline years of 2000, 2004 and 2012 have all passed without the ultimate goal being reached.
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.
i dont know why is this happening in pakistan.:-( ..guys pls do ur bit, we want polio free world.
