Polio situation in Pakistan worse than Afghanistan

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Pakistan’s polio situation is worse than Afghanistan, fuelling concerns at a recent international meeting in Qatar.

At its meeting in Doha, the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for polio eradication voiced concerns at the surge in polio cases in Pakistan, Dawn reported on Monday.

Data shared at the meeting showed that Pakistan’s situation was worse than Afghanistan. Health officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan attended the meeting from May 22 to 25.

The newspaper quoted a polio programme official who attended the meeting as saying: “We faced an embarrassing situation as all the gains by Pakistan in 2021 have been lost.”

The official said this while referring to the re-emergence of the poliovirus in three provincial capitals -- Quetta, Karachi and Peshawar.

It said 44 districts in Pakistan had got infected since June 2023 in comparison with eight infected between the previous two TAG meetings.

In Afghanistan, the infected districts only doubled from eight to 18 compared to the six-fold increase in Pakistan, according to documents cited by the daily.

On May 25, Pakistan reported the third polio case of the current year from the Qila Abdullah district of southwestern Balochistan province.

mud