ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Punjab is getting closer to be declared a polio-free province as no case has been reported for over a year, the Polio Communication Review meeting was informed on Monday.

Six cases have so far been confirmed this year, mostly from NWFP and interior Sindh, and the disease is largely confined to areas bordering Afghanistan.

It is said that the numbers of polio virus strains prevalent in the country has dropped from almost a dozen few years back to only three.

Overall, there have not been any polio cases for quite some time in 80 per cent districts of the country, most of which are in Punjab.

The three-day review of the communication strategy for the health ministry’s one of the largest public health initiatives is being done for the first time since the Polio Eradication Campaign was launched in 1994.

The review is being done in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, United States Agency for International Development and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Lashari, while speaking at the meeting, said Pakistan had treaded a long road in its fight against poliomyelitis.

“Campaign after campaign we continue to inch towards our ultimate goal while in the process protecting innocent lives from the shadows of disability,” he said, adding that if Pakistan was not holding polio immunisation campaigns with the current frequency, about 20,000 children would have been suffered from permanent disability at the hands of polio virus every year.