The anti-polio campaign is going on across the country from October 2, which will continue for a whole week in Karachi and for five days across the country.

Meanwhile, children up to five years of age are being administered polio drops from house to house.

Inaugurating the campaign, caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar administered polio drops to the children. Addressing the meeting of the National Task Force, where he pointed out that the number of polio cases in the country has decreased, he reiterated the government's commitment that the campaign will continue until polio is eradicated.

The Caretaker Prime Minister clarified that all scholars, including Imam Kaaba, have declared polio vaccination drops as very necessary for a safe and disability-free future. Anwar Kakar expressed concern over the presence of polio virus in three districts and directed that no child should be deprived of polio vaccine drops as this process is a part of future battle for survival and we must win this war at all costs.

Due to the presence of polio virus in the Central, South, Eastern and Kemari districts of Karachi, the relevant authorities of Sindh province are paying special attention to the high-risk districts and the areas with large population. After the discovery of the presence of genetic polio virus in the sewage water samples in the said districts, all aspects are being taken into consideration in this regard. In the year 2022, 20 polio cases were reported in the country, but this year only 3 cases were reported in Bannu area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The third case of polio has been reported in Pakistan this year recently. A one-and-half year old girl has been infected with this deadly virus in Ghoda Baka Khel Union Council of Bannu District of KP Province. And she has been disabled as a result of the deadly attack of this virus.

No information was received from Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. The Prime Minister rightly pointed out in his tweet that the said campaign is a symbol of our determination for a healthy and safe future of children. Militants call the polio campaign a Western conspiracy and often attack polio workers, mostly in tribal districts. Polio workers and the officials responsible for their protection are busy performing their duties despite the difficulties.

The most gruesome aspect is that polio workers have always been in line of fire in the KP province and Balochistan provinces, where the polio cases have staged resurgence with as many as 14 cases in recent months.  Obviously the purpose of the attacks is to deter the polio teams from working in the tribal areas where polio has reemerged and spreading to other parts of the country.

Recently, two cops and a health worker were murdered  in North Waziristan which has also emerged as epicenter of the new polio cases in the country. But the good thing is that despite this fearful situation, the vaccinators have pledged to  go ahead with their mission and go door to door to reach out to maximum number of children.

In recent years, around seventy-two polio workers and security men on duty to guard polio teams have been killed in KP province alone, mostly in tribal areas and till now the killers have not been traced in majority of the cases.  Analysts fear that this situation can deter the polio workers from performing their duties and as such there is a need for special security arrangements and deployment of special teams so that the fear of attacks on polio workers can be done away with. The deadly virus which was about to be eradicated completely from the country has made a strong comeback with as many as 13 cases reported across the country mainly from the KP province. As many as eight of these cases have taken place in Mir Ali and Miranshah of North Waziristan tribal areas  which is close to Afghan border, while health experts have warned that all southern districts of the KP province are also at high-risk as the danger of contracting this virus has been looming large in these areas, from where the disease can also transmit to other parts of the country as well. There are various factors for the resurgence of this deadly and crippling disease and foremost being the denial by parents to vaccinate their children against this deadly virus.

As a matter of fact, it is parents who are putting their young ones at risk of lifelong disabilities by exhibiting such an irresponsible behaviour. The irony is that not only the illiterate parents are refusing to vaccinate their children, in some cases educated parents too were found reluctant to administer polio vaccine to their children, as they are being misguided by the conspiracies theories being hatched by the extremists against vaccines campaigns.  One is really saddened by this disappointing development as our country was very close to totally eradicate this disease as last year, only one case was reported and we were about to achieve the status of a polio-free country, but that could not happen due to  the irresponsible behavior of the parents who refused to vaccinate their children against this deadly virus.

We were proceeding well with our anti-polio drives and  there was steady decline in the number of polio patients in recent years which can be gauged from the fact that only on case eighty was reported in the country last year as compared to 147 cases in 2019 and eighty-four in 2020.  One is really concerned over the sudden and high number of polio patients from the tribal districts and since the KP people freely move across the country, and spread to the disease to the urban centres as well. One would advise the masses to not pay heed to negative propaganda and misinformation spread by religious extremists about vaccines in our country. More significantly, the government must also ensure steps to monitor cross-border movement in the wake of volatile situation in Afghanistan, where polio is still existing.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 05 2023

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