Progress towards poliomyelitis eradication--Pakistan, January 2022-June 2023/Progres accomplis vers l'eradication de la poliomyelite: Pakistan, janvier 2022-juin 2023

• Published in: Weekly epidemiological record 2023-08, Vol.98 (33), p.355
• Main Authors: Mbaeyi, Chukwuma, Baig, Shahzad, Safdar, Rana Muhammad, Khan, Zainul, Young, Hamish, Jorba, Jaume, Wadood, Zubair M, Jafari, Hamid, Alam, Muhammad Masroor, Franka, Richard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Comparative analysis; Poliomyelitis; Vaccination
• ISSN: 0049-8114

Since establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, Pakistan is 1 of only 2 countries (with Afghanistan) that has continued endemic transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV). This report describes Pakistan's progress towards polio eradication during January 2022-June 2023. In 2022, Pakistan reported 20 cases due to WPV type 1 (WPV1), all of which occurred in the small geographical area encompassing 3 districts in south Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As of 23 June 2023, only 1 WPV1 case had been reported, in Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as compared with 13 cases during the same period in 2022. Eleven WPV1 isolates from environmental surveillance (ES) sewage sampling sites have been reported to date in 2023, including in Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh. Substantial gaps remain in the quality of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs), especially in poliovirus reservoir areas. Despite the attenuation and apparently limited geographical scope of poliovirus circulation in Pakistan, isolation of WPV1 from an ES site in Karachi raises concern about the actual geographical limits of transmission. Interrupting WPV1 transmission will require meticulous tracking and sustained, innovative work to vaccinate children who are regularly missed during SIAs and rapid response to any new WPV1 isolations.