Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where polio remains endemic. The lack of proper governance and accountability together with local groups opposing vaccination are jeopardising the efforts to rid the country of this disease.
In most countries polio is barely a memory. Rich countries had largely eliminated it by the 1970s, and many poor countries soon followed suit. Three decades ago the world saw an estimated 400,000 polio cases a year. Thanks to a cheap and effective vaccine, administered by two drops into a child’s mouth and washed down with dollops of public and private money, the annual global number is now roughly 1,000. The government is again asking religious scholars to help educate people who refuse to allow their children to receive the oral polio vaccine. Health workers have recorded six new polio cases in Pakistan, bringing the number of polio-infected children to 173 so far this year, officials said December 15.
The World Health Organisation thinks that over 200,000 Pakistani children missed their polio vaccinations in the past couple of years. The worst-affected spots are Balochistan, beset by sectarian massacres and police killings, and the unstable Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the Afghan border. Southern Sindh, deluged by two years of floods, has also been hit. Children are still being disabled by polio in Pakistan despite years of effort to eradicate the disease. Who is responsible, the government or the community? The government should take a strong decision in this regard. What is our community doing? We are so close and we can do this. We can wipe out polio.
ANAM HAYAT
Islamabad
