The National Institute of Health (NIH) has confirmed a new polio case in Bannu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which brought the total number of cases in the province this year to three and eight nationwide, authorities said Friday.
The confirmation comes as Pakistan performs his second nationwide polio vaccination campaign this year with the aim of immunizing over 45.4 million children under five, including 2.6 million in the sparsely populated southwest province of Balochistan.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Roset Roset the country’s anti-polio efforts at a high-level goal and noted that no new cases had been reported since February 10. He credited to success for ongoing nationwide initiatives and support from international partners.
The current inoculation campaign, which began this week, is running until April 27, with another drive scheduled for May 26 to June 1.
Polio remains endemic in only two countries around the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The virus, which mainly affects children under five, can cause irreversible paralysis, but can be prevented with a few drops of oral vaccine.
