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Southwest Pakistan Starts Anti-Polio Campaign

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A health official in Pakistan says that the country is launching a special five-day anti-polio drive in Baluchistan province, after traces of a new strain of polio were discovered in the sewers.

Syed Faisal Ahmed, the coordinator for Emergency Operation Center in Quetta, mentioned Monday that around 400,000 kids below five years old will be vaccinated against the disease, The New York Times reports.

Ahmed said that this decision was made after environmental samples in Quetta were found to be positive for polio. The samples carried a rare Type 2 stain of polio, confirmed by the World Health Organization. He added that 1,345 teams will be spread throughout 39 local councils in the region, backed by tight security.

Last year, there were multiple anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan that were successful in largely eliminating the deadly virus. There were only 19 cases recorded last year – a record low, Ahmed said. The more common type of polio is Type 1, and no Type 2 cases have been reported in humans for over a decade, to date.

According to Reuters, local officials have also asked for help from Muslim religious leaders to promote the immunization efforts, after past attempts were met with resistance and, in some cases, violence from extremist groups. For example, a suicide bomber killed 15 people outside a vaccination center in Quetta last January – an attack that was claimed by members of the Pakistani Taliban.

Ahmed said,

The religious leaders were … asking the people to give their children anti-polio drops in their sermons in the mosques in rural areas of Baluchistan.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world that battle endemic polio, which was once a common cause of paralysis and death. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other countries facing the same problem.

Ahmed said, “We have achieved major goals in combating polio disease, but still we have to strive more to declare Pakistan a polio-free country.”

 

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