PM expresses concerns over resurfacing of poliovirus.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif voiced alarm on Saturday over the poliovirus emerging in Pakistan after a 15-month hiatus.
In North Waziristan, a 15-month-old boy tested positive for type-1 wild poliovirus (WPV1).
The prime minister demanded a report from the relevant authorities and instructed them to devise a plan to rid the country of the devastating sickness.
On Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz will convene a meeting of the National Task Force for Polio Eradication.
A 15-month-old boy was paralysed by wild poliovirus on Friday, marking the third instance of wild poliovirus to be reported globally in 2022.
The virus was confirmed by the Pakistan National Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad on April 22, 2022, with paralysis beginning on April 9.
A positive environmental sample collected on April 5 from the same province’s Bannu area was also confirmed by the Pakistan polio laboratory. Both viruses have a close relationship with one another.
Last year, Pakistan recorded one occurrence, which began on January 27 in Killa Abdullah, Balochistan.
“Of course, this is a tragedy for the youngster and his family, and it is also very bad for Pakistan and global polio eradication efforts.”
“We are disappointed, but not discouraged,” stated Secretary of State for Health Aamir Ashraf.
“The case has emerged in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the poliovirus was discovered in the environment late last year and an emergency response plan is already in place,” says the statement.
“The National and Provincial Polio Emergency Operations Centres have deployed teams to conduct a complete investigation of the recent case, while emergency immunisation efforts are underway to prevent the wild poliovirus from spreading further in Pakistan,” the health secretary stated.
Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, is one of only two nations in the world where wild poliovirus is still circulating.
As PM expresses concerns over resurfacing of poliovirus, Polio is a highly infectious virus, and children all around the world are at risk of life-long paralysis or death from the poliovirus until this last remaining epidemiological bloc eradicates it.
