Tag: polio

  • Here is when Polio will end in Pakistan according to UNICEF

    The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has expressed confidence that polio virus will be eradicated from Pakistan by the end of next year, following effective measures to check its spread.

    UNICEF’s Regional Director for South Asia, George Laryea-Adjei, said that according to available data, the potentially fatal virus is in control in Pakistan.

    “We are using all available resources and services at our disposal to reach every girl and boy in Pakistan with life saving vaccines and protect them against the entirely preventable disease,” he said.

    “The programme is back on track to stop all wild poliovirus transmission in 2023,” he added.

    Adjei noted that compared to a year ago, Pakistan was in a far better position to eradicate polio. He stated that certain obstacles complicated efforts to entirely eradicate the pathogen.

    He lamented the attacks on health workers and polio teams in various areas of Pakistan and voiced his concern about them. He also praised the polio teams’ bravery.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • Poliovirus detected in sewage samples from 2 cities in Pakistan

    Poliovirus detected in sewage samples from 2 cities in Pakistan

    Polio virus has been discovered in sewage samples taken from Peshawar and Faisalabad, a source in the Ministry of Health Sciences has said, Express Tribune has reported.

    WPV1 has been found in sewage samples collected from Peshawar and Faisalabad. The samples were taken on November 11.
    65 polio sewage samples were discovered from around the country last year.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020

  • Security officer providing security to polio workers shot dead

    Security officer providing security to polio workers shot dead

    A police officer deployed with a health worker administering polio vaccinations was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Balochistan, Abid Hussain reports for Al Jazeera.

    The police officer, Muhammed Hashim, was shot on Tuesday morning as he waited outside a home in Pishin city where a worker had gone inside to administer immunisation drops as part of a vaccination programme that had started on Monday.

    The law enforcement official, not the health care provider, was the target of the attack, Yasir Bazai, Pishin’s deputy commissioner, has said.

    “We are not going to suspend the campaign and it will continue as scheduled. However, security has been beefed up around polio teams in the rest of the province,” he told Al Jazeera.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • Anti-polio campaign to start in Sindh from October 24

    Anti-polio campaign to start in Sindh from October 24

    Anti-polio campaign in Sindh will be carried out from October 24 to 30, it has been announced. Around 6.5 million children would be administered the polio vaccination.
    The anti-polio drive will be carried out with special focus on flood-affected areas.

    Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput chaired a meeting on the upcoming anti-polio campaign on Friday.
    The meeting was informed that despite widespread campaigns, environmental samples of polio genetic clusters have been discovered.

    Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said that the biggest challenge at the moment, in the wake of floods, is to reach every single child and vaccinate against polio.

    She continued by saying that a thorough plan is required to address both the places hit by the storm and those where water is still standing. Vaccinators might be sent there on boats to administer the drops to children.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • 10-month-old child dies of Polio, 20 cases reported in one year

    10-month-old child dies of Polio, 20 cases reported in one year

    A 10-month-old boy from North Waziristan’s Ghulam Khan Union Council passed away after testing positive for wild polio, reports The News.

    According to the National Institute of Health, the 10-month-old boy experienced symptoms in his left arm and neck and paralysis on September 15.
    This is the 17th case of poliovirus that has been reported from North Waziristan this year and 20th in Pakistan.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

    However, polio has been rearing its head up in countries where the virus was eradicated decades ago. In June, a 20-year-old man in New York was afflicted with the virus, resulting in paralysis. The strain that affected him was the kind that is found in vaccines, and then behaves like a wild version of the virus. The man had not been vaccinated against the disease, however, more worryingly, he had not traveled internationally.

    The same strain of the virus has been detected in sewer samples in Jerusalem. Israel has recorded its first polio case in 30 years. The United Kingdom too has found the same strain in London.
    Polio is a potentially fatal disease that can cause paralysis if it spreads to the spinal cord. One in 10 polio fever afflicted patients die. The disease is more severe in children than it is in adults.

  • Polio virus detected in Lahore, three other cities

    Polio virus detected in Lahore, three other cities

    Pakistan’s National Polio Laboratory in Islamabad has found Type 1 wild poliovirus (WPV1) in environmental samples collected from different cities. The presence of the virus was confirmed in samples collected from Bannu, Peshawar and Swat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Lahore in Punjab.

    Talking about it, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said, “This is the seventh positive environmental sample from Bannu, third from Peshawar and Lahore each, and second from Swat this year.”

    Earlier in August, Pakistan’s federal authorities confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in seven cities after samples were collected from various cities in the country.
    Lahore and Islamabad were declared polio-free in April 2021.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

    However, polio has been rearing its head up in countries where the virus was eradicated decades ago. In June, a 20-year-old man in New York was afflicted with the virus, resulting in paralysis. The strain that affected him was the kind that is found in vaccines, and then behaves like a wild version of the virus. The man had not been vaccinated against the disease, however, more worryingly, he had not traveled internationally.

    The same strain of the virus has been detected in sewer samples in Jerusalem. Israel has recorded its first polio case in 30 years. The United Kingdom too has found the same strain in London.

    Polio is a potentially fatal disease that can cause paralysis if it spreads to the spinal cord. One in 10 polio fever afflicted patients die. The disease is more severe in children than it is in adults.

  • Attack on polio team: Two police officers martyred

    Attack on polio team: Two police officers martyred

    Two police officers were martyred in an armed attack on a polio squad in a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) district. Armed men opened fire on the polio team in Tank district.

    Constables Pir Rehman and Nisar were killed in the incident. They were both deputed on the security of the polio team.

    Following the incident, a contingent of police and security forces arrived in the area, collected evidence, and began the investigation by gathering eyewitness testimony.

    The current polio campaign will run until August 24.

    Earlier this year in June, one polio worker and three others were killed as a result of an attack on the polio team in North Waziristan.
    Pakistan has reported at least six cases of polio this year, As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations in the world.

  • Poliovirus detected in sewage samples from 7 cities in Pakistan

    Pakistan’s federal authorities have confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in seven cities after samples were collected from various cities in the country. The presence of the poliovirus was confirmed in the samples collected from Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Bannu, Nowshera and Swat.

    Lahore and Islamabad were declared polio-free in April 2021.

    Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel said in a statement that the government was committed to eradicating polio and had established a strategy to do so.

    “We have been taking steps to control the virus in seven cities that have reported positive environmental samples. I appeal to the parents to make sure that their children are vaccinated during every polio campaign,” said Qadir Patel.

    Read more – Shehbaz Sharif, Bill Gates discuss anti-polio campaign

    In order to raise awareness about the virus, the health ministry also solicited collaboration with civil society, religious scholars, academics and the media.

    Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

  • Shehbaz Sharif, Bill Gates discuss anti-polio campaign

    Shehbaz Sharif, Bill Gates discuss anti-polio campaign

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Bill Gates held talks on the phone and discussed the anti-polio campaign in Pakistan.

    In a telephonic conversation, the premier appreciated the valuable support of the BMGF to Pakistan in polio eradication and improving immunisation, nutrition, and financial inclusion in the country.

    Expressing grave concern about the recent increase in the number of confirmed poliovirus cases in Pakistan in 2022, Shehbaz stressed that his government remained committed to ending all forms of polio in the country.

    Gates reiterated the Foundation’s continued support to Pakistan for ensuring that no child is at risk of paralysis due to poliovirus.

    One wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bringing the number of 2022 WPV1 cases to 13. In 2021, the number of WVP1 cases was one and the number of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV2) cases was eight.

  • More than 40 life-saving drugs short in Pakistan

    More than 40 life-saving drugs short in Pakistan

    Due to the imposition of GST, the pharmaceutical industry is no longer importing raw materials, resulting in a shortage of 40-50 life-saving drugs.

    Mansoor Dilawar, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA), stated that 40 to 50 medicines are in short supply and that the number will soon exceed 100.

    According to Brecorder, the pharmaceutical industry has been waiting for Rs40 billion in sales tax refunds since January 16, 2022. However, the FBR has denied that any refunds were held by the tax authority.

    Unavailable drugs

    Alp tablets for anti-depression, Dexamethasone for asthma, cancer, and joint pain, Epitab for epilepsy, Nervin for depression, Epival, Fexet D, Nitronal, Ventoline tablets and injections are among the medicines in short supply on the market.

    Furthermore, Epival In, Myrin P, Ketasol Inj, Loprin, Silver tab, phenergen Elixir, Tixylix Lincitilus, Chlooriptics Drops, systane drops, Rivotril drops, Dormicum tablets, Winstor, Tritace, Sodamint, Schazobutil, Jardymet, and Brufen are said to be in short supply.

    There are also no Lomotil, Panadol, Tan Primolut B, Progynova, Stilnix, Glucobay, Zentel, Avor, Gravibinan, Syp Gaviscon, Lipofundin, or Sorbid Injection available.

    According to the PPMA chairman, the industry is halting production of low-margin items after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) imposed taxes that increased the industry’s cost of production by Rs60 billion to Rs70 billion.

    Read more: FBR collects highest-ever tax of Rs6 trillion in FY22

    “Because drug prices are capped, the pharmaceutical industry cannot pass on higher production costs to consumers,” he explained.

    “As a result, the industry has been forced to halt production of low-margin medicines, which have become unviable due to tax increases,” Dilawar added.

    According to Dilawar, the industry pays a 17 per cent refundable GST at the import stage and raw materials are subject to a 1 per cent non-refundable tax. The government then imposed a 1 per cent tax on the sale of medicines. This forces the industry to pay taxes ranging from Rs60 billion to Rs70 billion per year.