The number of sick children in Pakistan this year is 39, according to health officials in Pakistan, after six more cases of influenza have been confirmed.
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 terrible numbness among younger kids, has been almost eliminated nationally after decades-long immunization drives.
The only remaining nations where it is still present are Pakistan and Afghanistan. There is no cure for the disease, and numbness caused by an infection is inevitable.
” This should be a wake-up visit for all parents and neighborhoods”, Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, said lately.
Every anesthetic influenza event implies that hundreds of children are unaffected by the virus and could spread it throughout their populations, she continued.
This time, 20 circumstances have been detected in Balochistan, the worst affected county in Pakistan. Sindh province follows with 12 situations. Punjab and Islamabad each reported one person each, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has registered five.
” The constant movement of populations, safety issues in high-risk places, and frequent vaccine hesitancy all contribute to the boldness of the virus”, Melissa Corkum, the captain of Unicef influenza group in Pakistan, told the BBC.
This year, the most recent cases of polio were reported in southern Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization ( WHO ).
On October 28th, Pakistan will launch a national campaign to stop anesthetic polio in more than 45 million children under the age of five.
Prior to the latest wave in attacks, Pakistan- and its inhabitants of more than 240 million- was on the cusp of eradicating the disease.
The country recorded just six cases in 2023, after 20 in 2022 and just one in 2021.
Health officials say they have a lot of trouble persuading people to immunize 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 problems have, in the past, resulted in delayed or scattered campaigns, leading to missed opportunities for immunisation and leaving kids vulnerable”, Ms Corkum, the Unicef official said.