Pakistan: WHO extends travel bans for three months due to ongoing risk of polio outbreak

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Also read: WHO flags 7 India-made syrups in its probe on contaminated medicine causing 300 deaths globally Recent favourable environmental tests in Peshawar and Karachi have underscored the persistent risk of a polio epidemic in Pakistan, as noted by the committee. Furthermore, the committee reported the identification of a new case of Wild Poliovirus Type 1 (WP1) in Pakistan in 2023, bringing the year's total to 2 cases.

Both cases were reported in the Bannu district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Despite the vaccination of an additional 160,000 children in southern KP through an action plan, the committee emphasised the continued challenges in the region, including political instability, security concerns necessitating police patrols for frontline workers, and vaccination refusals, as reported by ARY News.

Also read: COVID-19: US CDC tracks new variant, Which countries are under the radar? WHO says ‘Variant Under Monitoring’ In Afghanistan, the emergency committee disclosed the occurrence of five new WPV1 cases in Nangarhar province since the previous meeting. It also warned that any setback in Afghanistan's polio eradication efforts poses a risk to Pakistan due to high population movement between the two countries.

The committee issued a warning about the persistent risk of WPV1 re-emergence in the southern region due to ongoing transmission in eastern Afghanistan, cross-border transmission into Pakistan, and a substantial population of unvaccinated children in southern Afghanistan. As per WHO's International Travel and Health guidelines, all travellers should receive the complete polio vaccine.