13-month-old girl diagnosed with poliovirus in KP's Tank district Samples were taken from affected girl last month; country's total poliovirus tally in 2024 reaches 69 A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child during a polio vaccination campaign at a slum area in Lahore on August 2, 2021. — AFP PESHAWAR: Despite multiple vaccination campaigns, poliovirus continues to cripple children as one more case has been reported in Khyber Pakhytunkhwa, the Health Department confirmed on Wednesday. The crippling disease was detected in a 13-month-old girl — from whom samples were taken in December 2024 — in the Tatta area of KP's Tank district, pushing the total number of cases in 2024 from the district to five and overall provincial tally to 21.
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display('div-gpt-ad-1700472799616-0'); }); KP remains the second most affected by the poliovirus and is only superseded by Balochistan which reported 27 cases out of the total 69 cases from last year. Meanwhile, Sindh reported 19 cases whereas one case each was reported in Punjab and Islamabad. Owing to the confirmation of the latest case in the KP, the Health Department has said that the first anti-polio drive of the ongoing year will be launched in the province from February 13.
The inoculation campaign will aim to vaccinate over six million children. Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of cases on a yearly basis.
