ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has confirmed four new polio cases, bringing the total number of cases in 2024 to 63, according to the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
The new cases were reported in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Jacobabad, and Sukkur, with the case in Sukkur marking the area’s first polio case.
The EOC noted that this is the ninth case reported from Dera Ismail Khan and the third from Jacobabad, while the affected child in Sukkur is a boy.
This year’s provincial distribution of polio cases includes 26 in Balochistan, 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Islamabad.
With over 60% of children affected by polio in 2024 having missed routine immunisation, health authorities have formed a high-level committee to improve coordination between the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), as reported by The News.
The committee, headed by Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Services Dr Malik Muhtar Ahmed Barath, includes provincial health directors and representatives from international organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, CDC, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
