Of crippling impact: WHO extends temporary polio travel advisory
Pakistan and Afghanistan to be considered one epidemiological block
A child gets polio vaccine on Pak-Afghan border at Chaman. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee has further extended three months temporary travel recommendations on Pakistan after a slow improvement since February this year in curtailing the polio virus. However, it still accounts for 95% of the total number of cases that have surfaced to-date this year.
Meanwhile the Emergency Committee has agreed to accept Pakistan and Afghanistan as a single epidemiological block because of its frequent cross-border population movement which accounts for spread of the virus.
According to a statement issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) the Emergency Committee under the IHR- 2005 in its fifth meeting decided to further extend temporary travel recommendations on Pakistan. Pakistani travelers were expected to carry a polio vaccination certificate along with them with validity for a year.
“No cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in Africa for eight months; in 2015, Pakistan and Afghanistan have reported less than half the number of cases that were reported during the same period in 2014; there has been no exportation from Pakistan since October 2014; and the number of persistently missed and inaccessible children is declining in Pakistan,” says the statement.
Secondly, the Committee fears the risk of new exportations from Pakistan as nearly 50,000 children are still inaccessible in Fata.
While talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Rana Safdar, in-charge of the National Emergency Operation Cell for Polio Eradication, said it is a positive sign that the Emergency Committee has accepted to consider Pakistan and Afghanistan as one epidemiological block.
“All efforts are being made to vaccinate all the people moving in and out at two legal check posts at Pak-Afghan border, but it is impossible to vaccinate population moving from illegal pathways,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2015.
The World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee has further extended three months temporary travel recommendations on Pakistan after a slow improvement since February this year in curtailing the polio virus. However, it still accounts for 95% of the total number of cases that have surfaced to-date this year.
Meanwhile the Emergency Committee has agreed to accept Pakistan and Afghanistan as a single epidemiological block because of its frequent cross-border population movement which accounts for spread of the virus.
According to a statement issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) the Emergency Committee under the IHR- 2005 in its fifth meeting decided to further extend temporary travel recommendations on Pakistan. Pakistani travelers were expected to carry a polio vaccination certificate along with them with validity for a year.
“No cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in Africa for eight months; in 2015, Pakistan and Afghanistan have reported less than half the number of cases that were reported during the same period in 2014; there has been no exportation from Pakistan since October 2014; and the number of persistently missed and inaccessible children is declining in Pakistan,” says the statement.
Secondly, the Committee fears the risk of new exportations from Pakistan as nearly 50,000 children are still inaccessible in Fata.
While talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Rana Safdar, in-charge of the National Emergency Operation Cell for Polio Eradication, said it is a positive sign that the Emergency Committee has accepted to consider Pakistan and Afghanistan as one epidemiological block.
“All efforts are being made to vaccinate all the people moving in and out at two legal check posts at Pak-Afghan border, but it is impossible to vaccinate population moving from illegal pathways,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2015.