In the ongoing battle against polio, Ms. Ayesha Raza Farooq, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, recommended fostering media involvement and enhancing collaboration.
She was speaking to the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication’s Media Engagement Session of health journalists.
Health reporters from a range of print, electronic, and online media outlets were invited to the event with the goal of giving them accurate information, outlining the program’s current poliovirus prevention strategy, and answering any questions from the media in advance of the October 28, 2024, start of the nationwide polio vaccination campaign.
NEOC Coordinator Anwarul Haq discussed the main obstacles to the eradication efforts, including as ongoing vaccination hesitancy, demographic shifts, and security issues in high-risk areas that impact regular access to the vaccine for children.
By mid-2025, a consensus strategy is being executed to stop the spread of the virus, according to Ayesha Raza, who stated that polio eradication is being pursued as a national priority agenda.
Regarding the poliovirus’s comeback this year, she stated that 39 instances of polio had been documented.
