Progress and Peril: Poliomyelitis Eradication Efforts in Pakistan, 1994-2013

Pakistan is one of 3 countries where transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted. Numbers of confirmed polio cases have declined by > 90% from preeradication levels, although outbreaks occurred during 2008-2013. During 2012 and 2013, 58 and 93 WPV cases, respectively, were reported, almost all of which were due to WPV type 1. Of the 151 WPV cases reported during 2012-2013, 123 (81%) occurred in the conflict-affected Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and in security-compromised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. WPV type 3 was isolated from only 3 persons with polio in a single district in 2012. During August 2012-December 2013, 62 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 cases were detected, including 40 cases (65%) identified in the FATA during 2013. Approximately 350 000 children in certain districts of the FATA have not received polio vaccine during supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) conducted since mid-2012, because local authorities have banned polio vaccination. In other areas of Pakistan, SIAs have been compromised by attacks targeting polio workers, which started in mid-2012. Further efforts to reach children in conflict-affected and security-compromised areas will be necessary to prevent reintroduction of WPV into other areas of Pakistan and other parts of the world.