Rise in polio cases in Pakistan: Is there a way out?
Hindustan TimesLast month, Pakistan reported its fifth case of the deadly virus. "The cases this year are a striking reminder that no child anywhere would be totally safe from the crippling disease until Pakistan succeeded in eradicating polio completely," said Malik Mukhtar Bharath, the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's coordinator on national health services. "Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to operate in a highly complex and challenging environment," Dr Hamid Jafari, director of polio eradication at the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, told DW. "Primary drivers of risks include large population movements, insecurity compromising access and quality of vaccination in key infected areas, combined with communities with significant vaccine hesitancy and persistently low routine immunization coverage in polio-critical geographies." "As polio continues to move out of the core reservoirs during this high transmission season, we may see an increased case burden outside of these historic reservoir areas," the health expert said.