“WHY WE COULD NOT ERADICATE POLIO FROM PAKISTAN AND HOW CAN WE?”

Authors

  • Syed Zawar Shah Center of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan
  • Muhammad Saad
  • Mohammad Hasan Rahman Khattak
  • Muhammad Rizwan
  • Asma Haidari Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • Fatima Idrees Sardar Begum Dental College, University of Gandhara, Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

Polio is a major health problem and a deadly infectious disease in the developing countries. It is a viral illness caused by polio virus that can lead to paralysis, limb deformities, breathing problems or even death. Polio virus resides only in humans and passes on to the environment in the faeces of someone who is infected. Polio is still endemic in three countries, i.e., Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan and is eradicated from the rest of the world. Pakistan is considered as the exporter of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) with highest number of polio outbreaks among endemic countries. With the start of World Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, the number of polio cases has been reduced up to 99% worldwide until now. In 2015, Pakistan has shown a decrease of 70–75% in number of polio cases as compare to last year which is the result of good government’s initiatives. Militant organizations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Al-Qaeda and Boko haram movement of northern Nigeria are a major hurdle in the eradication of polio from these countries. The misconception of people about polio vaccine, insecurity within the country and poor health system are the reasons of failure of polio eradication campaigns in these regions. Awareness campaigns about polio for locals and development of proper health system will help in the eradication of polio. Once polio is eradicated, about 40-50 billion dollars can be saved globally. With the strong commitment, seriousness and good initiatives, polio will be eradicated from Pakistan within two years more likely.Keywords: Poliomyelitis, prevalence, risk factors, strategies

Author Biographies

Syed Zawar Shah, Center of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, Pakistan

BS-Biotechnology Student, Center of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar

Asma Haidari, Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

BDS, Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Fatima Idrees, Sardar Begum Dental College, University of Gandhara, Peshawar, Pakistan

BDS, Sardar Begum Dental College, University of Gandhara, Peshawar, Pakistan

References

Atkinson W, Hamborsky J, McIntyre L, Wolfe S. Poliomyelitis. Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (11th ed.). Washington DC: Public Health Foundation; 2009, p. 231–44.

Carl Y. Saab. The spinal cord. New York (NY): InfoBase Publishing; 2006, p. 15.

World Health Organization, 2013. Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013–18. Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Available at http://www.polioeradication.org/Portals/0/Document/Resources/StrategyWork/PEESP_ES_EN_A4.pdf.

World Health Organization, 2014. Poliomyelitis Fact sheet N 114. Available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs114/en/

Global Polio Eradication Initiative Data and Monitoring; Polio this week. Retrieved on 8 July, 2015. Available at http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx

Pakistan sees Major drop in the polio cases. The DAWN News. Retrieved on 4 June, 2015. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/1186150

World Health Organization. Statement on the 5th IHR Emergency Committee meeting regarding the international spread of wild poliovirus. Retrieved on 5 May, 2015. Available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2015/polio-5th-statement/en/

Zofeen T E. Taliban’s ‘polio war’ puts 241,000 children at risk. The DAWN News. Retrieved on 2 July, 2012. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/731177/talibans-polio-war-puts-241000-children-at-stake

Ashfaq Y. New strategy unlikely to curtail refusal against anti-polio vaccine. The DAWN News. Retrieved on 30 December, 2014. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/1154018

End Polio Pakistan. Social Mobilizers tackle Polio Vaccine misconceptions in Pakistan. Retrieved on 25 March, 2014. Available at http://www.endpolio.com.pk/12-field-stories/107-social-mobilisers-tackle-polio-vaccine-misconceptions-in-Pakistan

Polio drops declared “Halal”. The Express Tribune. Retrieved on 25 November, 2010. Available at http://tribune.com.pk/story/81400/polio-drops-declared-halal/

Ashfaq Y. Health workers murdered as Pakistan vaccinates 8.4 million children. CMAJ 2014; 109-4776.

Ali A. Kp police arrest 471 parents for refusing polio vaccine. The Dawn News. Retrieved on 02 March, 2015. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/1166901

Aamir Y. More people refusing polio vaccines.The Dawn News. Retrieved on 22 October, 2013. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/1050975

Ali A. 10 held for refusing polio vaccines to children. The DAWN News. Retrieved on 26 February, 2015. Available at http://www.dawn.com/news/1165867

Kazi AM, Khalid M, Kazi AN. Failure of polio eradication from Pakistan: Threat to world health. J Pioneer Med Sci 2014; 4(1):8-9S

End Polio Pakistan. Eradication within reach in Pakistan. Retrieved on 13 July, 2015. Available at http://www.endpolio.com.pk/12-field-stories/265-eradication-within-reach-in-pakistan

World Health Organization, 2003. Global polio eradication initiative: strategic plan 2004–2008 Geneva: WHO. ISBN 92-4-159117-X.

Nishtar S. Pakistan, politics and polio. Bull World Health Organ 2010; 88(2):159–60.

Published

2016-06-01

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 2 (2016): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE, ABBOTTABAD

Section

SHORT COMMUNICATION

License

Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License  CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.

USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.

Most read articles by the same author(s)