PESHAWAR, (TDI): The total number of polio cases in Pakistan has risen to 52 following the confirmation of two new infections in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the detection of Wild Poliovirus Type 1 (WPV1) in the Darazinda tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan. The cases involve a three-year-old boy and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl.
Pakistan, with a population of over 240 million, had reported only a single case of paralytic poliovirus in 2021, following a period of more than 15 months without any documented cases. However, the number of cases has surged in recent months.
Polio remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two countries where the virus has not been fully eradicated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Afghanistan has reported 18 cases this year.
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Data from the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme indicates that, as of now, 24 cases have been reported in Balochistan, 13 in Sindh, 13 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each in Punjab and Islamabad.
Last year, Pakistan reported only six polio cases, marking a 70% decrease compared to 2022.
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Earlier this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to eradicating polio, emphasizing that the federal government, in collaboration with provincial authorities, is taking comprehensive steps to eliminate the disease.
He assured that all provinces are on board with the eradication efforts and will work together to make Pakistan polio-free.
