Pakistan Begins Anti-Polio Drive After Virus Surge in 2019

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s health workers have begun a campaign to vaccinate 40 million children against the polio virus after the nation saw the worst surge of the crippling disease in the past five years.

Under the security cover of 80,000 forces, the anti-polio vaccine will be administered to under-five-year age children by 250,000 workers during the five-day nationwide drive, Rana Muhammad Safdar, national coordinator at Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program said on Monday.

Pakistan has reported 104 fresh polio cases in 2019, the highest since 2014 when the country had more than 300 cases. The vaccination is being carried out along with neighboring Afghanistan to target moving populations across the porous border. The two neighbors are the only nations in the South Asia where polio still exists.

“It’s a big setback,” Safdar said by phone from Islamabad. “This has to be pushed back in a year.”

The anti-polio campaign in Pakistan has been targeted by right-wing groups and militants, who’ve attacked and killed health workers.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration plans six campaigns in 2020 to turn around the virus surge. The health care system receives less than 3% of the nation’s total gross domestic product.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kamran Haider in Islamabad at khaider2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Muneeza Naqvi

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.