Just in October this year, eight cases of polio have surfaced so far. And with the latest case of a nine-month-old boy from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the tally is up to 77. The current year has records the highest number of polio cases since 2015. Such a high score suggests that there is something wrong with the government’s programme to eradicate the crippling disease from Pakistan. It is unfortunate to note that Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, remains the only country where polio cases surface. Is the government paying any attention to the recent resurgence of the disease?
Astonishingly, the country’s eradication programme against polio has remained unchanged since the day it was first launched. Apart from the turmoil of terrorist attacks and natural disasters affecting the efficiency of the plan, the drive against polio is also suffering from some serious internal issues. The programme’s activities, unfortunately, are proving less than satisfactory even in curtailing the spread of the disease.
Given the fact that none of the four provinces is protected from the virus necessitates that the government impose polio-emergency. It is high time that the federal, as well as all provincial governments, join their heads together to stop the disease’s further spread. The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) needs to be the most concerned for the Poliovirus has hit the province the hardest.
It has been argued in this paper time and again that the fight against polio eradication will need a multi-pronged strategy. Before anything else, the government needs to reassess who’s to be blamed for the resurgence of the Poliovirus. The government conveniently blames parents and Pakistani “culture” whenever and wherever polio case surfaces. But what lies at the heart of this persistent failure is the programme leadership’s failure to undertake a serious analysis of its strategy in this regard.