In spite of setbacks from the US CIA's fake vaccination scheme in 2011 and the killing of polio workers by the Taliban in 2012, the WHO says Pakistan is on track to be declared polio free in April this year.
“We believe that Pakistan is on the right track to become free of poliovirus a type P3, as the last P3 case was reported in the Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency in the second week of April 2012, whereas all recent sewage samples show no active transmission of the P3 strain across the country,” Dr Elias Durry, the head of the Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO Pakistan told Dawn newspaper. Type 1 and type 2 strain of the poliovirus have already been eradicated in Pakistan.
Until 1988, the disease was endemic to 125 countries, paralyzing or killing 350,000 people each year--mostly children, according to Time magazine. Now it remain in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. There were 57 polio cases in Pakistan in 2012, significantly down from 198 in 2011. The last reported case of polio in Pakistan was in April, 2012. Pakistan will be declared free of polio by the WHO if there are no cases reported by April, 2013.
Here's an excerpt of a recent story in Time magazine explaining the polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan:
Pakistan is putting institutional power behind the sentimental appeals. After the December shootings, the government temporarily suspended the inoculation program, but Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf quickly issued a statement confirming the country's commitment to the campaign. He called for an inquiry into the attacks, promised the safety of polio workers and pledged to proceed with plans to deploy 250,000 health workers to vaccinate 34 million children in 2013. Polio teams will continue to work at toll plazas, boarding buses and looking for children who don't have blue ink staining a finger--a mark applied by field workers after a vaccine has been administered. When they find an unmarked child, they vaccinate on the spot. Appeals to religion and reason are being deployed as well. Health workers in tribal areas cite Koran verses that encourage the care of children and reach out to local religious leaders for support.
WHO's Pakistan representative Dr. Durry said last year Balochistan cut the number of polio cases by 95 per cent, Sindh by 88 per cent, Punjab by 78 per cent and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) by 66 per cent. “The most promising sign for Pakistan during the last year was a massive decrease in the number of polio cases during the high transmission season,” he said. Dr. Durry explained that all sewage samples collected from cities of Punjab in recent weeks were found negative. “Most samples collected from Peshawar, Gadap Town in Karachi and Hyderabad produced positive results in the past, but they showed negative results now,” he added.
Frontline health workers in Pakistan are in the midst of pulling off a major success under very adverse circumstances. They are taking great risks for a worthy cause and deserve the nation's gratitude for their exemplary commitment.
Haq's Musings: WHO Says Pakistan On Track to Be Polio Free in 2013
“We believe that Pakistan is on the right track to become free of poliovirus a type P3, as the last P3 case was reported in the Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency in the second week of April 2012, whereas all recent sewage samples show no active transmission of the P3 strain across the country,” Dr Elias Durry, the head of the Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO Pakistan told Dawn newspaper. Type 1 and type 2 strain of the poliovirus have already been eradicated in Pakistan.
Until 1988, the disease was endemic to 125 countries, paralyzing or killing 350,000 people each year--mostly children, according to Time magazine. Now it remain in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. There were 57 polio cases in Pakistan in 2012, significantly down from 198 in 2011. The last reported case of polio in Pakistan was in April, 2012. Pakistan will be declared free of polio by the WHO if there are no cases reported by April, 2013.
Here's an excerpt of a recent story in Time magazine explaining the polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan:
Pakistan is putting institutional power behind the sentimental appeals. After the December shootings, the government temporarily suspended the inoculation program, but Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf quickly issued a statement confirming the country's commitment to the campaign. He called for an inquiry into the attacks, promised the safety of polio workers and pledged to proceed with plans to deploy 250,000 health workers to vaccinate 34 million children in 2013. Polio teams will continue to work at toll plazas, boarding buses and looking for children who don't have blue ink staining a finger--a mark applied by field workers after a vaccine has been administered. When they find an unmarked child, they vaccinate on the spot. Appeals to religion and reason are being deployed as well. Health workers in tribal areas cite Koran verses that encourage the care of children and reach out to local religious leaders for support.
WHO's Pakistan representative Dr. Durry said last year Balochistan cut the number of polio cases by 95 per cent, Sindh by 88 per cent, Punjab by 78 per cent and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) by 66 per cent. “The most promising sign for Pakistan during the last year was a massive decrease in the number of polio cases during the high transmission season,” he said. Dr. Durry explained that all sewage samples collected from cities of Punjab in recent weeks were found negative. “Most samples collected from Peshawar, Gadap Town in Karachi and Hyderabad produced positive results in the past, but they showed negative results now,” he added.
Frontline health workers in Pakistan are in the midst of pulling off a major success under very adverse circumstances. They are taking great risks for a worthy cause and deserve the nation's gratitude for their exemplary commitment.
Haq's Musings: WHO Says Pakistan On Track to Be Polio Free in 2013
