Pak’s remarkable stride in fight against polio, no case reported in one year

Ishtiaq Ahmed

Pakistan is making a remarkable stride in its fight to eradicate polio as no case of infection was reported in the country during the last one year.

The Pakistan Polio update seminar was organised by Bradford Rotary Club and Khidmat Centres on Monday.

Members of the Bradford Rotary Club, local elected councillors and representatives of various community organisations attended the awareness seminar.

Counsel General Ibrar Hussain along with Deputy Lord Lieutenants Sofia Buncy MBE and Iqbal Bana were the chief guests for the event.

Explaining  the purpose of the seminar, Syed Rashad Bokhari said, “It was organised to update members of the local community about the progress of the polio vaccination programme in Pakistan.”

Readers may recall that in 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the entire African region free of wild poliovirus, four years after Nigeria—the last polio-endemic country in Africa—recorded its final case of wild polio. Thereafter the only two countries in which, polio virus was found were Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In partnership with the Bill Gates Foundation, the Pakistan government launched a nationwide polio vaccination programme in 2021. The polio vaccination programme is reported to be a complete success. Pakistan has not had a new polio case since January 27 last year.

Robert Morphet, the District Convenor of the Bradford Rotary Club said this was a fantastic news but we can’t afford to be complacent.

“Polio is only a door away. Every child has to be vaccinated from the date of the last reported case. Once you have polio, there is no back until it is completely eradicated. We would need to keep the vaccination programme going for three years from the last date of the case. If no new cases are reported for three years we would deem to have eradicated the poliovirus from the country.“

The General Council of Pakistan praised the efforts of thousands of volunteers that helped to facilitate the vaccination programme, reaching out to children. He also commended the efforts of non-profit organisations like the Rotary Club for supporting the programme.

The world is inching closer than ever to eradicating polio. More hard work lies ahead, but government leadership in Pakistan and the dedication of partners and vaccinators on the ground are creating the conditions for ridding the country and the world of the disease for good.

In 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched, polio was present in more than 125 countries and paralyzed about 1,000 children per day. Thanks to immunization efforts that have reached over 3 billion children, the incidence of polio is almost eradicated.