ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s focal person on polio has accepted that the virus is spreading across the country but reassured that a strategy has been made to eradicate the crippling disease by June 2025.

While talking to Dawn, Ayesha Raza Farooq said the presence of poliovirus has been detected in 66 districts, including Azad Kashmir. So far this year, 17 cases have been repor­ted, including one from Islamabad after 16 years.

“We have reassessed the polio situation in July and August, and a strategy has been made to era­dicate the virus,” Ms Faro­­oq said, adding that federal and provincial governments have been taken on board.

It was decided to hold “three quality campai­gns” in September, October and December to stop the continued spread of the virus, she said.

As the poliovirus beco­mes “less active during the cold or winter season”, it will be eradicated throu­­gh a scientific strategy.

While briefing on the ongoing week-long vaccination campaign, the official said the plan is to inoculate 23 million children in 115 districts.

The Ministry of Natio­n­­al Health Services has said that nearly 17.3 million children have been successfully administered vaccination during the start, which started on Monday.

Meanwhile, the prime minister’s coordinator for National Health Services, Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, has requested parents to “extend their full support to polio workers” who are visit-ing door-to-door to en-sure a healthy future for children.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024