Polio programme has ‘crucial window’ of six months for recovery: TAG

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ISLAMABAD: Identifying South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the center of polio virus transmission, 73 cases have been registered across the country last year, with Technical Advisory Group (Tag) about polio eradication. The polio eradication program emphasizes to take advantage of the first six months. M. Waqar Bhatti writes, 2025 as a “important window” to meet the recommended benchmark and key outbreak of the recommended vaccine (SIA) quality (SIA) quality.

The recommendations made at the 17th tag meeting in Islamabad from January 21-23, emphasizing the need for immediate action to keep the program on track and maintain progress in high-risk areas.

Pakistan reported a total of 73 wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) cases in 2024. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22, Sindh, and one from Punjab and Islamabad. In addition, more than 625 environmental patterns have positively experienced polio viruses nationwide, which identified the virus widespread circulation and the need for better coverage and monitoring of vaccination across the country.

The tag emphasized that the acquisition of high -quality SIAs between January and June 2025 is important to rebuild speed and remove operational sects. It also recommended intense efforts in the polio virus circulatory areas, especially in the southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa areas, where both surveillance and vaccination efforts were reduced.

Although the tag report provided strong guidance for polio eradication, its recommendations to strengthen the EPI were especially “light and lack of feature”. The report briefly acknowledges the importance of connecting normal safety vaccines with polio campaigns, but has failed to outline action to achieve this integration.

Tips for this report for “stabilizing normal safety vaccines” and “address inequality” did not provide viable solutions such as long -running issues such as cold chain system, workforce shortage and inadequate funding.

The advisory group also demanded a new focus on the leadership, accountability, and the loss of children, especially in the challenging areas.

The temporary recommendations of the meeting provide specific challenges for the province and a strategy for improvement. Although the tag praised progress in some areas, it expressed concern over operational gaps, community resistance, and the quality of the campaign, which has hindered efforts to eliminate.

The tag report highlighted South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the “center” of the wild polio virus transmission in Pakistan, the biggest threat to the region’s elimination program.

The group noted that despite efforts, the quality of vaccination campaigns in South KP is contradictory, which has important issues like micro -planning and high denial rates.

The tag urged provincial and federal governments to prefer the deployment of skilled staff, increase security arrangements for vaccinators, and prefer community leaders to tackle vaccine. It also recommended adoption of modern strategies to improve coverage in inaccessible areas, including the target community dialogue and digital monitoring system.

In Sindh, Tag acknowledged the improvement of Karachi’s top risk union councils but raised concerns about northern Sindh, where operational challenges remain. Matters such as staff business, weak harmony, and inadequate community involvement are hindering progress. The group recommended skilled vaccinators, especially women recruiting and training efforts to ensure access to less communities.

Punjab, which was often considered a model for polio eradication efforts, was praised for maintaining relatively high -higher vaccination coverage. However, the tag noted the emerging risks in urban slums and migrants’ communities, where children are weak. It called for a target intervention to solve these pockets of sensitivity and maintain the province’s benefits.

In Balochistan, low population density and supply difficulties have raised challenges to reach all children. The tag highlighted the need for better planning of the campaign and strong community involvement to overcome operational barriers.

The tag also reviewed the integration of the Extension Program related to the Elimination of the Elimination of Polio, though its recommendations were termed light and vague.

He advised to increase the harmony between the two programs and increase the coverage of routine vaccine to ensure widespread protection against vaccine -prevailing diseases.

However, experts attending the meeting pointed out that strong guidance and concrete steps were necessary to ensure meaningful integration. The tag emphasized that failure to meet the standard benchmark and pandemic diseases in the first half of 2025 could endanger Pakistan’s chances of disrupting the polio virus transmission. It called for strong surveillance, better accountability methods and maximum ownership at the provincial level to advance development.

The process of progress in the eradication of polio was also discussed, the group warned that the incoming SIAS would need an unprecedented level of operational entrepreneurship to meet global standards.

The tag report is seen as a wake -up call for Pakistan’s polio eradication program, in which all stakeholders do decisive work in the coming months to achieve the long -standing goal of polio -free Pakistan. Emphasis has been made.