Islamabad, 7 September 2024 (dpa/MIA) – Pakistan plans an emergency vaccination drive next week after the first polio case was reported in the capital in 16 years amid a surge in other parts of the country, officials said on Saturday.

More than 33 million children under the age of 5 would be vaccinated in the door-to-door drive starting Monday, polio chief Ayesha Raza said, as the total new cases this year rose to 17.

An 8-year-old boy from a rural neighbourhood of the capital Islamabad was crippled by the wild polio virus, said Anwarul Haq, Pakistan’s national coordinator for the disease.

The south-western province of Balochistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran has been the worse-affected region this year with 12 new cases, the national data shows.

The spread of the virus to the region that was previously declared polio-free poses a fresh challenge for the eradication programme funded jointly by the UN and the Gates Foundation.

The polio cases in Pakistan peaked at 147 in 2019 but declined to only six last year.

Pakistan undertakes periodic immunization drives, but the campaign is often targeted by the Islamist militants.

The militants and some Islamic clerics see the polio vaccination campaign is a ploy by the West to sterilize Muslims.