ISLAMABAD — Polio cases are rising in Pakistan ahead of a new vaccination campaign, but violence targeting health workers and the police who protect them is hampering the country’s long-standing efforts to eradicate polio. are.
Since January, health authorities have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to just six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Polio Eradication Emergency Operations Center.
A new national effort will begin on October 28 with the aim of vaccinating at least 32 million children. “The whole objective of these campaigns is to achieve the goal of making Pakistan a polio-free country,” he said.
Pakistan has launched regular polio eradication campaigns despite attacks on workers and police assigned to vaccination drives. Militants falsely claim that the vaccination campaign is a Western plot to sterilize children.
Most new polio cases were reported in southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh, followed by Khyber Pakhtankhwa and eastern Punjab.
Previous infections have occurred in the restive northwest, which borders Afghanistan, a location that worries authorities after the Taliban government abruptly halted a door-to-door vaccination campaign in September.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are two countries where the spread of the disease, which can cause fatal paralysis, has yet to be stopped. Pakistani officials said the Taliban’s decision would have major implications beyond the Afghan border, as people from both countries frequently travel to each other’s countries.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in southern Afghanistan. This is an increase from six cases in 2023. In June, Afghanistan adopted a door-to-door vaccination strategy for the first time in five years, which WHO says has helped reach the majority of targeted children.
Pakistani health officials say they hope both countries will carry out anti-polio campaigns at the same time.