KARACHI: Despite continued immunisation campaigns, more than 75,000 children, aged less than five years, have never been administered polio drops in Sindh, it emerged on Friday.

They are among the country’s nearly half a million children who have never received any vaccine against polio, according to the figures compiled by the emergency operations centre of Sindh.

Of around 440,000 children, 245,000 live in Balochistan, followed by 75,000 in Sindh, 60,000 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and 51,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the data, not a single child missed polio dose in Punjab. Balochistan is the only province where the number of reported polio cases increased from two during the first eight months of last year to four during this year’s corresponding period.

The number of polio cases dropped this year in Fata and all the other provinces. Sindh has recorded four cases this year, while there were 13 polio cases detected last year. In Fata, the cases dropped from 103 to eight and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the polio cases reduced from 24 to 13.

Punjab has registered no polio case since January, while there was one recorded last year.

Officials said Karachi had not reported any polio case since October 2014.

75pc reduction

Last year 306 polio cases were reported across the country. While 75 per cent reduction was recorded during the eight months of this year, the country still shared over 90pc of the polio cases recorded worldwide.

They said September marked the first month of the low transmission season for polio virus when efforts to attack the virus would have maximum impact. “This year, Pakistan has an extraordinary opportunity to take the world over the finishing line for polio eradication,” said an official.

Officials at the programme said inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) was being added to vaccination campaigns where it could help boost immunity, for example in high-risk areas of Balochistan, Fata, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

They said more than 200,000 motivated frontline health workers had been selected from communities and trained to ensure every child was reached and every parent could trust vaccinators to protect their children from polio.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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