Four new cases take polio count to 206

Coverage is so far below 90%, in Balochistan, Fata, according to official

ISLAMABAD: Four new polio cases surfaced on Friday, one of them from the populous Punjab province, taking the number of countrywide cases reported this year to 206. This was Punjab’s third polio case of the year, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.

Another two polio cases have been confirmed from Peshawar while there was one each from Khyber Agency and Sheikhupura in Punjab.

Officials confirmed that Fizza, daughter of Alamzeb from Chooli Payan Peshawar, was diagnosed as affected by the polio virus, while the second victim from Peshawar is seven-month-old Yaqoob Khan, son of Hussain Khan — an Afghan refugee residing in Urmar Bala.



On a provincial level, Peshawar is on top with 14 cases, Bannu has recorded 12, Tank 5, Mardan 4, Buner 3, Lakki Marwat 2, and two each from Nowshehra and Torghar districts. However, Khyber agency of Federally Administrative Tribal Area (Fata) is on top of the list throughout the country with 47 cases, as majority of the polio victims are from the tribal region.

An official working with the anti-polio drive informed The Express Tribune  on the condition of anonymity that the overall coverage of the nationwide polio drive is 90 per cent which is expected to improve as in some areas the drive is either under way or will be held in few days.



“In Karachi, the campaign is still in progress whereas in Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah, the campaign will start from October 13.”

“In Balochistan and Fata, coverage is so far below 90 per cent, which is worrisome,” said the official. “At present, timely anti-polio drives are the only hope to get rid of this crippling disease which is affecting our children.”

Monitoring of campaigns

The prime minister’s focal person on polio, Ayesha Raza Farooq, in her visit to the federal polio control room on Friday, directed the officials to start an independent monitoring of polio campaigns — especially in high risk union councils (UCs) — to analyse the coverage.

She focused on strengthening the monitoring and evaluation mechanism at the grass root level. Farooq reviewed the data received from the provincial and district polio control rooms and issued directives to the officials to streamline the reporting mechanism.

“Provinces need to analyse data before sharing it with the federal control room and authenticity needs to be maintained,” said the prime minister’s focal person while reviewing the performance indicators.

Farooq also highlighted the importance of data management in analysing the performance of the campaign. While commenting on the low performing districts, she stressed on sending a report back to the provinces urging them to address all gaps and loopholes. She called for better coordination and harmony between the operations of the federal and provincial polio control rooms.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2014.