Now Pakistan is entered into 30th year to eradicate polio but in the presence of consecutive polio eradicating campaign, as nation we are failing to stop polio cases. It is very shameful for the whole nation that we are the only country in the globe after Afghanistan that is suffering from polio cases which is an alarming situation for us that more global restrictions may be impose on us.
According to a report, since 1994 the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program has been fighting to end the crippling polio virus from the country but due terrorism and refusing parents of polio drops every program is failing in the country.
Yesterday an esteemed newspaper’s report narrates, the country’s polio virus tally for the year has risen to 46 as new child was crippled by the contagious disease in Balochistan’s Qila Saifullah district. Authorities have confirmed that a baby, just a few months old, has been diagnosed with polio, bringing the total number of cases in Balochistan to 23 this year.
This marks the second polio case reported from Qila Saifullah in 2024. Additionally, officials have revealed that environmental samples from 76 districts across the country have tested positive for the virus, highlighting its widespread presence.
Pakistan is one of the only two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Since its launch in 1994, the country’s polio eradication drive has largely contained the virus by holding frequent vaccination campaigns. The country was close to completely wiping out the disease until this year as only six cases had been reported in 2023.
However the experts point to misinformation about the polio vaccine as a significant obstacle to eradication efforts. The southwestern province has emerged as an area of intense polio transmission this year as 23 of the 41 cases in the country. Apart from Balochistan Sindh has reported 12 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa nine, while Punjab and Islamabad have recorded one case each. Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus mainly affecting children under the age of five years, who are malnourished or have weak immunity because of being under-vaccinated or not vaccinated for polio and other childhood diseases. The illness invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease. Pakistan’s rigorous efforts towards polio eradication face significant challenges, particularly in areas where insecurity, misinformation, and parental refusals hinder vaccination campaigns.
Therefor it is the responsibility of every stakeholder of the country including parents to eradicate that crippling disease. Especially the role parents is very important to counter that common enemy because in over illiterate society there is lack of awareness about useful polio drops and some the evil actor are spreading disinformation about polio drops. Another hurdle in the eradication is that, large number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children because they believed that polio drops are not safe for their children.
According to a report only the provincial capital Peshawar, the Emergency Operations Centre Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said the number of families refusing the administration of polio drops to their children had come down by around 35 per cent. It said the development was observed during the last year vaccination campaign, which also reported a 25 per cent decline in the number of children who missed vaccination in the last few drives. So now it is the duty of every single citizen of the country that they not only point out these parents to police for the legal proceeding but also convinced them to vaccinate their children and in that process the religious leader and social worker’s role is very important, If these influential citizens could ply their part then it is possible to overcome on the above refusals ratio.
