Islamabad

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif kicked off a nationwide anti-polio campaign for the year 2025, reaffirming his government's determination to completely eliminate the polio disease from the South Asian country.

The immunisation campaign, which will run from February 3 to February 9, would target millions of children in the country to save their future and health, the prime minister said while addressing the launching ceremony.

He said that polio teams would reach the far-flung areas and villages across the country to eradicate the disease, hoping that the teams would successfully meet the huge national responsibility by utilising their complete energies.

Sharif said a total of 73 polio cases were reported last year in the country, which emerged as a huge challenge, besides posing a setback, adding that this year only one new case had been reported so far.

Expressing his resolve to eradicate polio at all costs, the prime minister said that dedicated teamwork and support from international partners are crucial factors in the fight against the disease, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the World Health Organization, Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs.

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5–10 per cent die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.

Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age. However, anyone of any age who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.

READ MORE: Nizamuddin Dargah celebrates Basant Panchami to commemorate brotherhood

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life. There are two vaccines available: oral polio vaccine and inactivated polio vaccine. Both are effective and safe, and both are used in different combinations worldwide, depending on local epidemiological and programmatic circumstances, to ensure the best possible protection to populations can be provided.