Poliovirus is basically a virus that is composed of an RNA genome and a protein capsid that is widely regarded as the simplest significant virus. Today, when the world is focused on Covid-19, the polio virus remains behind the curtain due to a lack of highlight on it, it is increasing day by day in Pakistan. Now a country, that has lost a battle against a virus that can be treated, will that country be able to fight a virus like a corona? Until there is a single case of poliovirus that means Pakistan has lost against polio. Our children are our future and our future is under the threat of a crippling virus.
There was a time when the polio cases were decreasing rapidly but today they are increasing rapidly. Considering, a fight with Covid-19. But defeating Covid-19 doesn’t mean losing from polio. Pakistan needs to battle both of them and achieve victory over both viruses.
According to UNICEF, Polio was very close to being eradicated but that was before the outbreak of novel coronavirus struck the world. Now once again due to lack of attention on it, it has started to strengthen its roots.
Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme states that the total number of poliovirus cases in 2020 are 93 so far. Countries that were planning to conduct poliovirus preventative campaigns postponed these campaigns due to the pandemic due to which more children might have been paralyzed by polio as a result.
In 2014, the number of poliovirus cases were 306 but till 2017, they decreased to 8 and 12 in 2018. However, according to WHO, in 2019 the virus rapidly spread and 144 polio cases were reported across all provinces of Pakistan.
The situation of the polio virus has gotten too worse that the WHO has extended travel restrictions for Pakistan due to poliovirus till October. Now it can get worst and Pakistan can face isolation if not concerned about this disease.
It must be noted that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries that still suffer from active wild poliovirus transmission. Therefore, it is high time to eradicate polio as it can spread to polio-free regions by our mistake of not eradicating it completely, deeply from its root.
The GPEI team consists of 50 million partners involving 200 countries with 20 million volunteers vaccinating over 2.5 billion children by spending over $14 billion in international investment.
Polio is not something that can be cured but it can prevented by vaccination. According to the WHO, as long as even a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.
The four provinces of Pakistan are confronting this deadly disease and it is time to take strenuous efforts for polio eradication. Government must launch awareness programs regarding the polio virus as there are still parents who do not let their children get vaccinated and vaccination programs must be continued until we have a polio-free country, even after that.
The writer is a student interested in social issues