Despite mass vaccination campaigns nearly eradicating polio, cases rebounded in Pakistan in 2024 due to virus spillover from Afghanistan. Challenges include Taliban restrictions on female healthcare workers and a spike in vaccine hesitancy. Zulfiqar Bhutta emphasizes that public health efforts are failing as poliovirus continues to spread across Pakistan's districts, reversing the progress made since the 2000s. With only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, remaining in the fight against polio, the urgency to address these setbacks is paramount for global health.
"It has spread to all districts of Pakistan. We've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," said Zulfiqar Bhutta, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Bhutta, who was back in Afghanistan in December, said the Taliban did not allow female health professionals to work, impeding public health programs.
Public health officials say "vaccine hesitancy," poor sanitary conditions, and regional insecurity have all sabotaged vaccination efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Some health workers have got into the communities. But they've somehow dispersed the goddamn poliovirus over the entire area," Bhutta said.
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