ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has decided to launch a special anti-polio campaign, “Outbreak Response,” following the detection of the virus in sewage samples across the country.
The campaign will target over 9.5 million children for vaccination and will run from July 1 to July 7, covering 41 districts, including Islamabad. The drive will focus particularly on 31 districts where polio-positive sewage samples were found.
The anti-polio drive will be launched in 16 districts of Balochistan, 11 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8 districts of Sindh, and 5 districts of Punjab. The goal is to vaccinate 8.9 million children in these areas.
Balochistan aims to vaccinate 900,000 children, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1.3 million, Sindh 2.7 million, Punjab 4.4 million, and Islamabad 133,000 children.
So far this year, eight polio cases have been reported in the country. Recently, poliovirus was detected in sewage samples from seven districts across Pakistan. The Type-1 Wild Poliovirus was found in sewage lines, with the number of positive sewage samples rising to 203 in 2024.
The affected districts include Islamabad, Quetta, Nasirabad, Karachi, Peshawar, and Gujranwala, where the poliovirus has been detected in sewage.
