Pakistan reports 1st polio case in 15 mths, PM to chair emergency meet on Monday

Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday he would chair an emergency meeting of the National Task Force for Polio Eradication after the country reported its first case of the disabling and life-threatening disease in 15 months.

“Deeply concerned at the emergence of one polio case in the country. Eradication of polio was a great achievement made possible through sustained efforts. Many polio workers lost their lives in this fight. I have convened a meeting of the National Task Force on Polio for stock-take!” he tweeted.

On Friday a case of the type-1 wild poliovirus (WPV1) was confirmed in a 15-month old boy in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, the Islamabad-based National Institute of Health said.

“Deeply saddened to share that a 15-month-old boy has been paralyzed in North Waziristan,” Shahzad Baig, a coordinator with the National Emergency Operations Centre for Pakistan’s polio eradication programme, tweeted Friday evening.

Pakistan health secretary Aamir Asraf said Saturday the case was a tragedy for the child and the family and also very unfortunate for Pakistan, as well as polio eradication efforts across the world, news agency ANI reported.

“We are disappointed but not deterred,” Ashraf added.

The case in North Waziristan has taken the global tally of polio cases this year to three. The other two cases of the WPV1 were found in Afghanistan and Malawi.

Pakistan last saw a polio case in January 2021.

Pakistan is one of two countries – with Afghanistan – where polio still remains endemic. In order for a country to have eradicated the disease, it must be polio-free for three consecutive years.