Pakistan reported three new polio cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the country in 2024 to 55, an official statement said.
“The lab confirmed the case[s] from DI Khan and Zhob districts, where female children are affected, and Jaffarabad district where a male child is affected,” read a statement from the National Emergency Operations Centre.
This brings the total cases in Pakistan this year to 55 so far, as compared to 6 in 2023.
DI Khan, one of the seven polio endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), has now reported six polio cases, while this is the third case this year from Zhob and second from Jaffarabad, according to the statement.
Nowshera reports Pakistan’s 42nd polio case for 2024
“Pakistan is responding to an intense resurgence of WPV1 [wild poliovirus type 1] this year with 55 cases reported so far. Of these, 26 are from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.”
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.
The Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps, while the Expanded Programme on Immunization provides vaccinations against 12 childhood disease free of charge at health facilities near year.
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