Since the launch of Pakistanʼs Polio Eradication Programme in 1994, extensive polio vaccination campaigns and poliovirus surveillance, combined with the hard work of frontline health workers, have resulted in a 99% fall in the number of polio cases. Despite progress, Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan remain the only 2 countries where wild polio still survives, making it critical to intensify the response to end this persistent global and regional threat to children across the planet. Pakistan, and the world, have the opportunity to deliver a polio-free world for future generations, but for that to happen we need to run the last mile together. It is critical that we intensify the response to end this threat to children across the planet. No child will be safe until every child is safe.
WHO supports the Government of Pakistan and its partners in polio eradication efforts to achieve a polio-free status. Polio is a crippling disease and has no cure, but there is a safe and effective vaccine. The strategy to eradicate polio is based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops.
WHO’s polio eradication operations in Pakistan are among the largest WHO operations globally, providing the Government of Pakistan with technical support across multiple areas. They include:
the planning and implementation of polio supplementary immunization activities, including the mobilization of over 400 000 vaccinators for nationwide campaigns to reach 45 million children under 5;
monitoring and evaluation to assess quality and identify areas for improvement;
implementation of outbreak response campaigns;
poliovirus surveillance and detection through advanced laboratory services – in Pakistan, WHO supports the largest and most sensitive poliovirus surveillance network in the world with over 12 500 acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) reporting sites nationwide, 127 environmental (wastewater) surveillance sites and 81 sites to screen and monitor patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders and detect poliovirus;
the vaccination of mobile populations within the country and at border crossings; and
support in implementing joint initiatives between the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme and the Expanded Programme on Immunization.
