ISLAMABAD – Pakistan remains among only two countries with positive cases of poliovirus, and several environmental samples came out positive last year, prompting World Health Organization (WHO) to extend travel restrictions on the South Asian nation for another three months.
In its fresh advisory, the WHO Emergency Committee on Polio said Pakistan and Afghanistan still hold polio threats. It expressed concerns about four new cases of wild poliovirus in 2023, bringing the tally to six.
Besides the cases, at least 82 positive samples were identified in 2023, particularly between September and November 2023.
The affected areas were Quetta, Karachi, and regions in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar. Despite efforts to vaccinate more and more children in KP, resistence persisted, including political instability, insecurity requiring security for workers, and vaccination refusals in exchange for alternative services.
In light of current stats, WHO extended travel advisory for 3 months.
Meanwhile, the ongoing transmission in eastern Afghanistan was also highlighted as a concern.
WHO advises individuals traveling to polio-affected areas to be fully vaccinated.
Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is usually spread through contaminated water or food. Invading the nervous system, the disease can cause total paralysis within hours.
The contagious virus thrived in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan where militants attacked and even killed anti-polio teams.
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