No end in sight to Pakistan’s long battle with polio as active cases reach 50

Islamabad, Nov 19 (IANS) Pakistan’s massive and unending struggle to root out polio continues as the total number of active polio cases in the country reached 50 on Tuesday following fresh cases reported from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces.

So far, at least 24 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 11 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

On Tuesday, Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) was detected in a girl child, making her the second polio virus case from the Tank district of KP.

The two troubled regions have seen rejection of polio vaccination campaigns and even casualties for health workers in the past.

With no end in sign to targeted attacks, it has become almost impossible for polio vaccination campaigns to run smoothly, thus increasing chances of children getting infected.

While WHO maintains that an encouraging decline has been witnessed in polio cases in different parts of Pakistan’s Punjab province, it has warned that detection of the latest cases is a dangerous and alarming sign, indicating that children in several districts remain at risk.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan remain the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic.

In the past, Pakistan has administered over 300 million doses of the oral vaccine annually. But the disease continues to stay rife in the country.

Many analysts have questioned Pakistan government’s continued failure to handle the spread of polio virus.

Resistance to the polio immunization drive grew in Pakistan after the US spy agency CIA organised a fake hepatitis vaccination drive to track Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the country. One of the most wanted terrorists in the world, Bin Laden was killed in 2011 during a US Navy Seals operation in KP’s Abbottabad.

Several religious leaders also believe that the polio vaccination drops contain traces of pork and alcohol, which is prohibited in Islam.

–IANS

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