The world polio day is observed on Oct 24 with a commitment to fight against poliomyelitis and pay a tribute to Jonas Salk, American medical researcher and virologist who led the first team that developed a vaccine against poliomyelitis. The completion of polio eradication is followed as programmatic emergency in global health sphere.In a statement issued on this occasion, Punjab Health Director General Dr Zahid Pervaiz said polio had been declared a national emergency and a dedicated team of professionals in the Emergency Operation Centre in the health directorate was working hard to achieve the targets. He said Punjab had made a progress over the last two years and with other variables in control, polio eradication may well be in sight within a year. Pakistan has remained a particular centre of concern because of its difficulties in holding back the march of polio. There are multiple reasons for this, including the anti-polio campaign run particularly in the country’s tribal areas where the vaccination drive has been labelled a western campaign. The Dr Shakeel Afridi affair – in which medical personnel in the guise of a polio vaccination team allegedly collected DNA from Osama bin Laden’s family – added to these negative perceptions. However, with massive international help, Pakistan has done well to reduce the cases of the disease drastically this year. To date this year, 38 cases have been reported in the country compared to 205 at the same time in 2014. This is a giant step forward. Those responsible for it deserve praise and the government of Pakistan should be applauded for its efforts. The endeavours made by the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio, Ayesha Farooq, have been especially dedicated and perhaps she needs to take full charge of the effort directed from the prime minister’s cell on polio. But these are relatively small issues compared to the bigger challenge. The reality is that in the 1990s too, Pakistan had come close to eliminating polio, with cases falling to a few dozen each year – only to see the situation reversed some years down the line. We must not let the same thing happen now. There are still reasons for caution to be exercised. Two new cases of polio were identified in September in places where they should never have occurred. One case took place in Chakwal, in the heart of Punjab, the country’s most developed province. And one case was found in Karachi, the country’s largest city. These are areas that should be relatively easy for vaccination teams to reach and ensure each child is vaccinated. We need to continue to look at the administrative problems that are evidently there in our anti-polio drives. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has reported that during campaigns in the country in September, three million children who had been missed before were reached. There are also other concerns. In environmental material, primarily in water, the polio virus was found in all four provinces. This indicates how widely it has spread in our country and how we have allowed this to happen – mostly due to failures in the past. It is a positive step that these failures are being effectively addressed. But it is important to do even more.
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