Pakistan closes out 2018 with two December wild poliovirus cases (with onset on the 16th and 25th) from Lakki Marwat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Bajour Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. This puts the total wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases to 10 for 2018.

Image/CIA
Image/CIA

With the 21 WPV1 cases reported in Afghanistan last year, that puts the total at 31.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world with ongoing wild poliovirus transmission, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Polio vaccination: Pakistan starts last ‘door-to-door’ campaign of 2018

The first nationwide polio vaccination campaign of 2019 starts across Pakistan on 21st January, according to a report in the Pakistani news source, The News.

During this campaign, a total of 260,000 frontline workers will go door to door across all provinces and towns to ensure more than 39 million children under the age of five receive two drops of the vaccine which will protect them against the polio virus.