Like the Lernaean Hydra, the polio menace in Pakistan refuses to be killed – and with each head cut off it grows two more. The latest is a decision that has made polio vaccination certificates mandatory for all people travelling abroad from Pakistan starting June 1. This means that the virus that has crippled many among the Pakistani poor has suddenly become a headache for the country’s affluent. Repeated efforts from the authorities to eradicate this disease have failed to yield desired results and today Pakistan is seen by the world as the greatest stumbling block in the campaign to once and for all erase polio from the globe. Earlier this month a polio emergency was declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the finale of that being the travel certificate decree.
Many used to see polio more as a problem festering in the remote tribal areas of the country. But that perception has finally changed and now it is common knowledge that polio in Pakistan is as big a threat to its urban centres. This was confirmed on Monday as authorities confirmed two more polio cases in Karachi pushing the tally to 51 across the country. Two 18-month-old children – a boy and girl – from Gadap and Kemari respectively, have become part of the dreaded polio stats, the latest victims of the crippling virus. Though WHO has also raised a question mark on Syria and Cameroon, Pakistan continues to be seen as the greatest threat having accounted for a fifth of the 417 cases reported globally in 2013. This violence-torn country recorded 91 cases of polio last year, a sharp increase from 58 in 2012. Reports have time and again underlined the fact that international authorities see Pakistan as the number one risk when it comes to exporting the virus abroad. The story gets grimmer. On Tuesday, media reports quoting WHO sources revealed that the polio virus has been found in sewage water in Karachi and Lahore. It’s not that the authorities aren’t doing anything to tame this beast. But obviously whatever they are doing isn’t working. Resolutions have and are still being been passed in the assemblies, polio vaccination campaigns have and continue to be conducted in almost parts of the country. But the virus, it seems, is only spreading. What the authorities need are fresh and innovative ideas and the means to implement them. Just like the killing of the hydra, it is quite clear that Pakistan will need to pull off a Herculean feat to eradicate the polio virus. We have no choice in this matter. We have to defeat this disease with all the resources at our disposal – and more.
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