By Adeel Saeed
PESHAWAR, Feb 13 (APP): Pakistan makes a remarkable stride in its fight to eradicate polio within its geographical boundaries as no case of infection was reported in the country during the last one year from Jan 27, 2021 till date.
The accomplishment not only brought smiles on faces of hundreds of thousands of front line health workers but also raises hope of making the country free from the crippling disease which at global level remained endemic only in two countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“In January 2021 a case of polio was detected in Balochistan and till date no other case of infection is reported, reflecting hard work and committed efforts of 380,000 polio workers of the country,” remarked Abdul Basit, Coordinator Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Talking to APP, Abdul Basit termed the development as good omen for achieving the goal of making the country `Polio Free’. “For the first time we made this achievement of containing polio virus contagion to zero level throughout the year, raising hopes of wiping out of the disease from the country,” Basit added.
He said such accomplishments also raises morale of the team workers who have rendered great sacrifices for the cause of making Pakistan free from polio.
During the last one decade from 2012 around 88 polio workers and policemen have embraced martyrdom due to target killing by militants and majority of the incidents took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Around 111 workers were injured due to attacks and seven kidnapped, he added.
In the most recent polio immunization campaign launched in January 2022, a policeman guarding two-member team in Kohat district killed in armed attack by miscreants.
Coordinator EOC said, “Despite making headway in fight against polio, challenges still exist for re-occurrence of the disease and because of that fact we are not complacent over the feat. Our biggest challenge is prevalence of the virus in neighboring Afghanistan where first case of virus in current year was reported on Jan 23, 2022 at Paktika province in close proximity of the border.”
Basit said cross border movement of people and transport between Pakistan and Afghanistan is continuous threat that could re-spread disease in the region. Similarly, he continued, environmental samples in Southern districts of Bannu and Lakki Marwat found presence of polio virus in sanitation water which is also a matter of serious concern.
The previous record of polio virus indicates fluctuation in infection moving in zig-zag movement from 2015 to 2022. In 2015 a total of 54 cases of polio were reported in Pakistan that reduced to 20 in 2016 and 8 in 2017, he disclosed. However, in 2018 polio cases show increase from 8 to 12 and took a big leap in 2019 by shooting to 147 cases. While keeping in view variation in cases of polio, “We have to keep in mind that polio eradication still needs a lot of hard work and dedication”, Basit added.
The news of no polio case in the country also served as a source of jubilation and pride for Shumaila Rehmani, a polio worker from Rawalpindi whose hard work impressed Bill Gates who appreciated the lady for her struggle against polio. On the eve of World Polio Day on October 24, 2021, Bill Gates shared a video on social media with comments that to mark the occasion, “I will share the story of one of these dedicated polio fighters in Pakistan.”
“This is a very happy tiding for a person who is fully involved in fight against polio,” says Shumaila while expressing her jovial over the achievement. For achieving this goal, “I and all the polio workers in the country have done a lot hard work with full devotion and dedication”, Shaumaila told APP.
She said several times she had faced humiliation and wrong treatment from parents who did not want to get their children vaccinated against polio. But hard work, commitment and awareness campaign by the communication team members helped in convincing such parents who agreed on allowing their children to get the drops.
Shumaila said still refusals and unavailability of children at homes is a big challenge for polio workers to cover all the children during immunization campaign. She also insisted for strict surveillance at Pak-Afghan border to curb transmission of virus from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, for Abdullah, a Peshawar dweller and father of a polio affected daughter, the news of non-occurrence of polio case was a source of satisfaction for him. He said, “While observing the hardship and difficulties faced by my daughter, I don’t want to see more children affected by this crippling disease and become happy on hearing the news.”
Abdullah said he neglected polio vaccination and has suffered a lot over getting his daughter affected from polio. “Parents should not give attention to propaganda against polio vaccination and get their children immunized against this disease which is very problematic both for affected people and their family members as well,” said Abdullah.
He said the achievement of non-reporting of any polio case has raised hopes that the country will soon become free from this disease and the future of the new generation will be safe from permanent disability.