K & P

Lagging behind: Polio virus transmission may end this year

Others stated that the virus could have been eliminated in 2012 in Pakistan

Our Correspondent March 13, 2017

The campaign will be carried over the course of six days. PHOTO: EXPRESS

PESHAWAR: Polio eradication campaigners claim the transmission of poliovirus will be stopped by the end of 2017 with the vaccination of every single child against the crippling virus.

“It needs a single three-day drive but it must be ensured not a single child is left untreated otherwise a threat will exist,” said WHO’s Polio Eradication Officer for K-P Dr Alauddin.

Alauddin, talking to health reporters on Sunday, stated that despite the fact that India got rid of the virus in 2014, some 306 were confirmed on this [Pakistan] side of the border which was why the officials, leading the campaign against the virus, felt the need for a strategy to be adopted so that the virus was eliminated from the region.

Others stated that the virus could have been eliminated in 2012 in Pakistan but the December 2012 attack that claimed the life of a polio worker changed things.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2017.