ISLAMABAD, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Experts have called for enhanced efforts to eradicate the infectious disease of polio from the South Asian country.
Over the decades, Pakistan has eliminated two of the three strains of wild poliovirus and built one of the world's most sensitive surveillance networks, Pakistan Prime Minister's Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said at a seminar on polio on Monday.
Advances in genetic sequencing, data-driven interventions and expanded environmental surveillance are giving Pakistan efficient tools to detect and stop transmission. The country has reduced annual polio cases by 99.6 percent from 20,000 in the early 1990s to 74 in 2024 and only 30 so far in 2025.
Karim Damji, a professor and dean of the Medical College at Aga Khan University, said that continued partnership is the need of the hour, emphasizing that polio eradication is within sight and can be achieved through persistence, community engagement and collective action.
"Eradicating polio forever is not just the right thing to do; it is the smartest," said World Health Organization Representative in Pakistan Luo Dapeng.
"While polio exists anywhere, no one is safe; it is not time to quit, it is time to recommit," Farooq said. ■
