Polio - an endemic disease in Pakistan: Literature review

Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious and incurable disease, which mainly affects children under five years of age leading to irreversible paralysis and possibly death. For decades, both private and government organizations have been putting efforts through their partnership to eradicate polio completely from the different parts of the globe and as a result of those efforts there are left only three countries which are currently polio endemic. Since Pakistan is one of those three countries which still remain polio endemic along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, it is significant to address this issue and work on the preventive measures to control the incidence of such a lethal disease. In Pakistan, a program was introduced on immunization in 1978, known as Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). The main purpose of EPI was to reduce the burden of diseases like polio and tetanus. Although the number of polio cases has fallen due to the classic efforts of government and other NGOs, polio is not eradicated from Pakistan. This situation is thought provoking. Even after the great global efforts; polio is not eradicated from Pakistan. Multiple factors might have prevented the eradication of this deadly disease from our society