73 polio cases reported in Pakistan in 2024

Pakistan’s anti-polio program on Thursday confirmed detecting another poliovirus case from last year, saying that the total tally of cases reported in 2024 have now climbed to 73. 

Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed that the 73rd case has been reported in a child from Pakistan’s southern Thatta district. 

“The onset of this case was on December 10, 2024,” the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme said in a statement. “This is the first polio case from Thatta for 2024.”

Giving a breakdown of the cases reported in 2024, the program said 27 cases were reported from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts have met several challenges in recent years, including attacks by militants and misinformation by religious hard-liners.

The Pakistan polio program is scheduled to hold the country’s first nationwide vaccination drive of this year from Feb. 3 till Feb. 9.

“It is crucial for parents to ensure vaccination for all their children under the age of five to keep them protected,” it said.