Pakistan's first case of polio in 2023 reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

The head of the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio, Dr. Shahzad Baig, said an investigation was ongoing to identify whether the child received the vaccination or the parents refused vaccination.

Pakistan has reported its first polio case of 2023 after a three-year-old boy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district became the latest victim of the crippling disease, according to a media report on March 18.

The case has been reported at a time when delegations of the French Agency for Development (FAD) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) are in the cash-strapped country to analyse efforts to eradicate the disease, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The Health Ministry on March 17 said the FAD and BMGF delegations met the Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel to discuss avenues for cooperation in social protection and health, with a focus on polio eradication.

The head of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Polio, Dr. Shahzad Baig, said an investigation was ongoing to identify whether the child received the vaccination or the parents refused vaccination.

“However, it is clear that the child was not fully protected and that is why the boy was attacked by the virus,” Dr. Baig told Dawn. He said this was the first case of the current year which has been reported after a gap of five months.

Health authorities have issued an alert on the back of the expected movement from tribal districts to urban areas in Ramazan and Eid. The authorities are now planning a vaccination drive in tribal districts from April 10 as currently security personnel are engaged in the digital census.

The NEOC head said there were seven districts in southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), including Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Bannu, South Waziristan, and North Waziristan, where the virus is prevalent. “[These areas] need to be targeted vigorously in the vaccination campaign.”