Polio in Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the two remaining countries[1][2] in the world where poliomyelitis (polio) is still categorized as an endemic viral infection,[3] the other one being Afghanistan.[1] While it has yet to fully eradicate Polio, there has been a major downwards trend in the number of reported cases per year; the total count of wild poliovirus cases in Pakistan in 2019 was down to 147,[4] compared to 84 in 2020, 1 in 2021, 20 in 2022,[5] 6 in 2023[6] and 41 as of October 2024.[7]

Though the polio immunization campaign in the country started in 1974,[8] the efforts for eradication officially started in 1994.[9] The infection remains endemic despite over 100 rounds of vaccination being carried out in the past decade.[10] Pakistan had the world's highest number of polio cases in 2014.[11][12][13][14]

  1. ^ a b "Global Polio Eradication Initiative > Key countries". Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  2. ^ Walsh, Fergus (2015-09-25). "Nigeria reaches polio 'milestone' - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  3. ^ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2006). "Update on vaccine-derived polioviruses". MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 55 (40): 1093–7. PMID 17035927.
  4. ^ "Polio this week as of 23 December 2019". polioeradication.org. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Polio this week as of 07 January 2020". polioeradication.org. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Polio cases in Pakistan | District Wise". Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference EndPolioCases was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Mangrio, Nawab Khan; Alam, Muhammad Mazhar; Shaikh, Babar Tasneem (2008-02-01). "Is Expanded Programme on Immunization doing enough? Viewpoint of health workers and managers in Sindh, Pakistan". The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association. 58 (2): 64–67. ISSN 0030-9982. PMID 18333522.
  9. ^ Obregón, Rafael; Chitnis, Ketan; Morry, Chris; Feek, Warren; Bates, Jeffrey; Galway, Michael; Ogden, Ellyn (August 2009). "Achieving polio eradication: a review of health communication evidence and lessons learned in India and Pakistan". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 87 (8): 624–630. doi:10.2471/blt.08.060863. ISSN 0042-9686. PMC 2733260. PMID 19705014.
  10. ^ Bhutta ZA (2013-09-04). "Conflict and polio: Winning the polio wars". JAMA. 310 (9): 905–906. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.276583. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 24002271.
  11. ^ "Global Polio Eradication Initiative > Data and monitoring > Polio this week". www.polioeradication.org. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ BBC (3 June 2015). "Polio in Pakistan: Drop of 70% recorded this year". BBC. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Aim to Completely Eradicate Polio by Next Year: Pakistan". NDTV. August 8, 2015.