Polio cases surge in Pakistan ahead of vaccination campaign

Health authorities in Pakistan say they have confirmed six more cases of polio, taking the number of infected children to 39 this year.

The new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) included three in Balochistan, two in Sindh province and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Polio, an infectious disease that causes crippling paralysis among young children, has been virtually eliminated globally after decades-long vaccination drives.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last remaining countries where it is still endemic. There is no cure for the disease, and paralysis caused by an infection is irreversible.

“This should be a wake-up call for all parents and communities,” Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, said recently.

“Every paralytic polio case means there are hundreds of children who are silently affected by poliovirus and are potentially carrying and spreading it throughout their communities,” she added.

This year, 20 cases have been detected in Balochistan, the worst affected province in Pakistan. It is followed by Sindh province with 12 cases. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has registered five, while Punjab and Islamabad reported one each.

“The continuous movement of populations, security challenges in high-risk areas, and persistent vaccine hesitancy all contribute to the persistence of the virus,” Melissa Corkum, the chief of Unicef polio team in Pakistan, told the BBC.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed at least 18 polio cases in neighbouring Afghanistan this year, most of them in the south of the country.

Pakistan is launching a nationwide polio vaccination campaign on 28 October to vaccinate more than 45 million children under the age of five against paralytic polio.

Prior to the latest surge in infections, Pakistan – and its population of more than 240 million – was on the verge of eradicating the disease.

The country recorded only six cases in 2023, after 20 in 2022 and just one in 2021.

Health authorities say they face a number of challenges in convincing people to vaccinate their children.

Hardline clerics and militants have campaigned against vaccination, falsely claiming it is a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. As a result, many communities avoid getting inoculated.

In recent years, several polio vaccinators and security officials who accompany them have come under attack by militants. At least 15 people, mostly police officers, have been killed and dozens injured this year during vaccination campaigns.

“Security concerns have, in the past, resulted in delayed or fragmented campaigns, leading to missed opportunities for immunisation and leaving children vulnerable,” Ms Corkum, the Unicef official said.