PESHAWAR:
Three new wild poliovirus type-1 cases were diagnosed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), bringing the number of patients suffering from the crippling disease to 122 this year. Of these, 89 cases were detected in Fata.
The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed all three cases on Tuesday.
A childhood lost
Two of the cases are from Khyber Agency. Six-month-old Munsif, the son of Muhammad Wazir from Balul Khel in Bara tehsil has been diagnosed with polio.
The second case was also reported from Bara, at Milward Camp in Akhun Talab. Bilal, the 18-month-old son of Noor Salim, has been infected with the poliovirus.
In South Waziristan Agency, 18-month-old Nazia, from Azam Warsak in Birmal tehsil, has also been infected.
None of these three children were administered the oral polio vaccine, said a FATA Expanded Programme for Immunisation official, confirming the three cases.
Parts of Khyber Agency are still inaccessible due to the presence of the Taliban, but, he added, polio campaign workers have been trying to reach these areas with the help of the political administration.
Fata now has 89 reported cases of polio. Of these, 61 are from North Waziristan, nine from South Waziristan, 17 from Khyber Agency and two from Frontier Region Bannu.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 20 children have been reported to have contracted polio, 11 in Sindh and one each in Punjab and Balochistan.
On Tuesday, K-P health department officials claimed the number of parents refusing to let their children get vaccinated against the crippling disease has dropped from 32,646 to 23,393 collectively in Peshawar and Mardan.
Documents available with The Express Tribune stated that 21,775 refusals were reported at the end of a day-long drive on June 15, 2014, targeting over 750,000 children in Peshawar. On the other hand, a campaign on August 31, targeting the same number of children across 97 union councils of the city, recorded 15,685 refusals—a reduction of 6,090 in one district.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2014.
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The inability of Pakistan to vaccinate children against polio making Pakistan one of the last countries in the world to eradicate this vaccine preventable disease, has the potential of adversely effecting India through spread of the disease across the border into India. So in order to prevent the polio virus joining the list of other unwelcome exports from Pakistan into India; namely Islamic terrorists, firearms, ammunition, explosives, narcotics and counterfeit Indian currency notes, it would be more prudent for India to just stop providing visa’s to Pakistanis to visit India and simultaneously prohibit Indian’s from visiting Pakistan.
India should not permit herself to be swayed by sympathy inducing Pakistani arguments about the need for maintaining people to people contact, helping divided families and using visit visas as confidence building measure to foster peace. India must instead be free to enjoy the fruits of eschewing the temptation of acquiring lots of nuclear “bums” and weapon systems in order to make resources available for polio eradication unlike Pakistan.