ISLAMABAD: A six-member delegation from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), a body which advises Pakistan on polio eradication, reached Pakistan on Monday in order to seek a report about the country’s performance in eradicating polio.

Though it has made a lot of efforts in 2016, the presence of polio reservoirs in small pockets is still a big challenge for the country.

During its two-day visit, the delegation led by TAG Chairman Dr Jean Marc Olive will hold meetings with representatives of federal and provincial governments and with around 120 health experts in the country. On June 29, the delegation will give recommendations for future measures.

TAG delegations visit Pakistan twice a year and hold meetings with health authorities. During the visit in January, TAG teams concluded that the goal of interrupting transmission of the virus was achievable but at risk unless there was further reduction in the immunity gaps, especially in core reservoirs.

In 2015, Technical Advisory Group predicted that complete polio eradication from Pakistan was a possibility

A number of critical recommendations were given including strengthening focus on core reservoirs, identifying specific action plans for poor performance districts, using lessons learned from community-based vaccination to improve the performance of mobile teams and more focused and sustained involvement of leadership, particularly of deputy commissioners.

TAG had recommended that further improvements to community surveillance and environmental surveillance would be important for improved detection of transmission in the coming months.

Talking to Dawn, Head of National Emergency Operations Centre Dr Rana Safdar said that during reports about polio campaigns held during the low transmission season from September to May will be presented in the meeting.

“Nine campaigns were held during the low transmission season. The delegation will be told that all environmental samples have been found negative which is good news,” he said.

If the polio virus is found in sewerage water, the sample is deemed positive. Samples of sewerage water of an area are the basic parameter of a campaigns success. A polio case can be reported in any city because of the frequent movement of people.

The presence of the polio virus in sewerage water also shows that the immunity level of the children of the area has decreased and that they are at risk of the disease.

“There are small pockets of the polio virus in Karachi, northern Sindh which is Larkana and Sakhar, some areas of the Bannu division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Quetta. These areas need more attention,” Dr Safdar said.

“After giving them a detailed report, we will seek advice from TAG about what we need to do to completely eradicate the virus,” he added.

In reply to a question, Dr Safdar said that the fencing of the border with Afghanistan can play a major role in the eradication of the polio virus in the country, which only prevails in two countries.

“However, we cannot take this issue up with TAG because it does not deal with international borders,” he said.

Dr Safdar said the number of polio cases has reduced in the current years with only 12 cases emerging this year, which is 60pc less that the same time last year. Other strategies like the expansion of community based vaccination and health camps have helped with enhancing community ownership of the programme, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016