On the 10 of July, Pakistan was reported to have 32 polio paralysis cases, part of a single large outbreak in the tribal areas along the border. This was a great surge in the number since the last few years, there being only 8 cases in 2017 and 12 cases in 2018. What’s worse is that the number is only expected to grow this summer as heat favors the virus.
This has been a great setback for the war against polio that the world has been fighting for the past 31 years, having expended $16 billion in its cause. However, there are numerous obstacles that Pakistan and the rest of the world have to surmount which make this war a difficult one to win. These include political instability; election campaigns during which officials in charge of the campaign are replaced; spreading of false rumors involving death of children because of vaccination, thus causing opposition among people; population movements, and poor sanitation causing spread of virus through the stools of infected children.
This shows that without involving the public, the war against polio cannot be won. We need to educate people about the importance of this campaign, so Pakistanis can fight polio as a team.
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