In spite of setbacks from the
US CIA's fake vaccination scheme in 2011 and the
killing of polio workers by the Taliban in 2012, the WHO says Pakistan is on track to be declared polio free in April this year.
“We believe that Pakistan is on the right track to become free of
poliovirus a type P3, as the last P3 case was reported in the Bara Tehsil
in Khyber Agency in the second week of April 2012, whereas all recent
sewage samples show no active transmission of the P3 strain across the
country,” Dr Elias Durry, the head of the Polio Eradication Initiative at
WHO Pakistan told
Dawn newspaper. Type 1 and type 2 strain of the poliovirus have already been eradicated in Pakistan.
Until 1988, the disease was endemic to 125 countries,
paralyzing or killing 350,000 people each year--mostly children, according to
Time magazine. Now it remain in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. There were 57 polio cases in Pakistan in 2012, significantly down from 198 in 2011. The last reported case of polio in Pakistan was in April, 2012. Pakistan will be declared free of polio by the WHO if there are no cases reported by April, 2013.
Here's an excerpt of a recent story in
Time magazine explaining the polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan:
Pakistan is putting institutional power behind the sentimental
appeals. After the December shootings, the government temporarily
suspended the inoculation program, but Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf
quickly issued a statement confirming the country's commitment to the
campaign. He called for an inquiry into the attacks, promised the safety
of polio workers and pledged to proceed with plans to deploy 250,000
health workers to vaccinate 34 million children in 2013. Polio teams
will continue to work at toll plazas, boarding buses and looking for
children who don't have blue ink staining a finger--a mark applied by
field workers after a vaccine has been administered. When they find an
unmarked child, they vaccinate on the spot. Appeals to religion
and reason are being deployed as well. Health workers in tribal areas
cite Koran verses that encourage the care of children and reach out to
local religious leaders for support.
6 comments:
The article mentions just type 3 of the Polio virus. What about the type 1 virus?
From India's experience, the type 1 virus was the last one eradicated.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/two-years-without-polio/article4304903.ece
We are very close to success and I wish Pakistan all the best in eradicating this scourge.
Indian: "What about the type 1 virus?"
Read the post carefully...particularly the following para:
“We believe that Pakistan is on the right track to become free of poliovirus a type P3, as the last P3 case was reported in the Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency in the second week of April 2012, whereas all recent sewage samples show no active transmission of the P3 strain across the country,” Dr Elias Durry, the head of the Polio Eradication Initiative at WHO Pakistan told Dawn newspaper. Type 1 and type 2 strain of the poliovirus have already been eradicated in Pakistan.
The polio vaccine has virtually eliminated the wild polio virus in large portions of the world, but at the same time that world health officials are declaring a victory on polio in India (and now Pakistan), they are calling a global meeting in Switzerland on the growing problem of vaccine-caused polio, which causes acute flaccid paralysis.
The oral polio vaccine, which is still used in many third-world countries (including Pakistan and Saudi Arabia), is made from a live polio virus, which carries a risk of causing polio. The virus in the vaccine can also mutate into a deadlier version, igniting new outbreaks. The US began using an inactivated polio vaccine in 1999, after parents of vaccine-damaged children were successful in lobbing for a change in strategy.
According to a 2010 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, outbreaks of vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) have been occurring at a rate of once or twice per year, since the year 2000.
Vaccine-Caused Polio on the Rise
Another fact that may surprise you is that the vaccine itself is the source of newer cases of this disease. At the same time that world health officials are declaring a victory on polio in India (and now Pakistan), they are calling a global meeting in Switzerland on the problem of vaccine-caused polio.
The problem is that while the oral vaccine has reined in wild polio, the wild virus is being replaced by vaccine-derived polio virus (VDPV), which causes acute flaccid paralysis. (Health officials don't call it polio because it isn't "wild.") The international meeting, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Japanese Ministry of Health, is scheduled for May 30-June 1, 2012, in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to polioeradication.orgii:
"The meeting will review the available scientific information on VDPVs; discuss the scientific, policy and programmatic implications of continued VDPV emergence and transmission; and, help inform the 'roadmap for VDPV elimination' for the post-oral polio vaccine (OPV) era."
Let us not be fooled by WHO propaganda.
See more:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/08/polio-vaccine-ineffective.aspx
Thanks for the post Haq Bhai ...truly enlightening to see such posts of encouragement from a patriot such as urself !
Here's a News report on presence of P1 in Pakistan:
Karachi
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the presence of poliovirus P1 in the sewage of three Pakistani cities - Karachi, Hyderabad and Peshawar.
“Laboratory analysis has confirmed that P1 poliovirus was present in the sewage of Gadap Town in Karachi, Hyderabad and University Town in Peshawar,” a WHO official said on Monday.
The official said the samples were collected earlier this month.He added that the laboratory tests helped identify the areas where the virus was rampant, allowing the authorities to plan extensive polio vaccination campaigns there.
Free of P3
The WHO plans to declare Pakistan free of poliovirus P3.
The WHO official said the last case of a P3 poliovirus infection was reported in Pakistan on April 14 last year and if no new case was reported by April this year, the country would be declared free of the virus.He said the virus was also not found in the sewage samples collected from 31 cities of the country.
Year’s first drive
Following the murder of women vaccinators during last year’s polio vaccination campaign, this year’s first centralised polio vaccination campaign in 97 union councils of 14 towns of Karachi will commence on February 4.
Unlike the previous vaccination drives, the provincial health authorities have decided not to publicise the campaign for the security of vaccinators, many of whom have been reluctant to take part in administering polio drops to children.
During the campaign, around 1,067,744 children up to five years old will be administered polio vaccine drops, for which over 300 teams of vaccinators and volunteers will be constituted.
Officials of the Sindh Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) are planning to mobilise over 6,000 vaccinators and volunteers to inoculate children against polio.
They said that majority of the female vaccinators, especially the lady health workers, have been reluctant to take part in the campaign.
Sindh EPI Manager Dr Mazhar Khamisani confirmed that a comprehensive polio vaccination campaign was being planned to start early next month, but due to security concerns, the campaign was not being publicised like in the past.
He said vaccination would be carried out in some parts of Karachi amid tight security, for which the city administration would be consulted and taken into confidence to ensure that all the targeted children are covered during the campaign.
He maintained that tight security would be provided to vaccinators and volunteers, especially female volunteers.
He said lady health workers were not reluctant to take part in the campaign, adding that only a few vaccinators were asking for heightened security in certain sensitive areas of the city.
Drive across Sindh
Khamisani said a polio vaccination campaign across Sindh had started on Monday, during which over 3.2 million children in 620 union councils of 22 districts of the province would be administered polio vaccine drops.
He maintained that over 25,000 volunteers and vaccinators were taking part in the form of 12,000 teams to vaccinate the children, adding that 764 fixed and 712 transit stations had also been established to vaccinate the maximum number of children.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-156812-Polio-virus-found-in-sewage-of-three-cities
Here's a Nation newspaper story on polio free Pakistan in 2013:
Though, the recently held first nationwide polio vaccination drive of the year missed some 1.83 million children, still the polio eradication partners after the sharp decline in the cases are quite optimistic and hoping that if the pace is continued the country may be declared polio free in December 2013.
Sharing the details of anti-polio vaccination campaign that ran from April 15 to 17, the representatives of polio eradication programme informed that there has been 71 per cent decrease in the cases and 70 per cent decline in environmental circulation of the virus as compared to previous years. "Besides, Pakistan has been declared P-3 poliovirus free country on April 18 and if the upcoming polio campaigns are conducted successfully and the missed areas are also covered, polio will soon be a thing of the past in the country," said Dr Elias Durry, Head of Polio Eradication, World Health Organisation (WHO).
He maintained that security concerns in Pakistan are putting in danger a remarkable record of success toward wiping out polio, as well as progress against the diseases. He said that some areas of Peshawar, including Larama and Shaheen towns, still reported active transmission of polio virus that was a the biggest threat against the efforts. He said that central Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Fata, high-risk areas of Karachi and Quetta were core endemic areas. However, he said that the reported decline in the number of cases was a significant achievement.
Drawing a comparison with previous years, he said that in 2011 total number of infected districts were 60 and 196 children were infected with P-1, 2 and 3 virus. He said that in 2012 the number of infected districts came down to 28 and the number of children infected with P-1 and P-3 virus reduced to 55 and 2. But in 2013 so far 6 cases had been surfaced from Sindh, Punjab, and KPK.
During the campaign some 1,834, 625 children missed polio drops across the country owing to various reasons, including security threats. About 763,714 children were missed only in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, 621,724 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), including 260,000 from North and South Waziristan and 396, 925 children in Balochistan.
About 69,926 children could not be administered polio drops due to parental refusal during the campaign. As many as 33,693 children were missed only in KPK, 24,569 in Sindh and 9,442 in Balochistan.
Out of 34,452, 502 targeted children, 32,617,876 children, almost 95 per cent, were successfully immunised against polio by the 196,057 health workers in the country excluding North and South Waziristan.....
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/islamabad/30-Apr-2013/partners-hope-pakistan-can-be-polio-free-in-2013
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