Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday that polio eradication remained a national priority, adding that achieving a polio-free Pakistan required a \u201cmodern, integrated strategy that addresses all challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children under five, and sometimes causing lifelong paralysis. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolio eradication remains a national priority,\u201d Kamal said during his visit to the Sindh Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for Polio in Karachi today to assess the ongoing efforts to eradicate the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cAchieving a polio-free Pakistan requires a modern, integrated strategy that addresses all challenges,\u201d Kamal said, according to a press release issued by the health ministry.<\/p>\n
Expressing concern over vaccine refusals, the health minister requested a detailed report on families refusing vaccination.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the dedication of frontline workers and district administrations in the fight against polio and emphasised the need for utilising all available resources to eliminate the virus, the press release said.<\/p>\n
The minister reaffirmed the government\u2019s commitment to supporting Sindh in polio eradication efforts, especially given that four out of six polio cases in 2025 were reported from the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe expressed deep concern over the 43,000 parents in Sindh \u2014 nearly 42,000 in Karachi alone \u2014 who have refused to vaccinate their children,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The press release said that the minister urged parents to ensure their children receive polio drops during the upcoming National Polio Campaign in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the cooperation of parents, we can rid the country of polio once and for all,\u201d Kamal was quoted as saying in the press release.<\/p>\n
The health minister also voiced concern over the \u201cpersistent presence\u201d of the poliovirus in Karachi\u2019s sewage samples.<\/p>\n
He stressed the need for more effective community engagement and intensified vaccination efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll stakeholders in Karachi are working together to devise a strategy that ensures no child is left unvaccinated,\u201d said Provincial EOC Coordinator Irshad Ali Sodhar said, according to the press release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Sunday that polio eradication remained a national priority, adding that achieving a polio-free Pakistan required a \u201cmodern, integrated strategy that addresses all challenges\u201d. Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6888,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6886\/revisions\/6888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}