According to a report of the Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, Islamabad, one case each was reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata in December.
One-and-a-half-year old Anwar, a resident of Bara sub-district of Sama Gari village in Khyber Agency, felt the first signs of paralysis on December 23, 2011. According to his parents, Anwar has been unable to receive any oral polio vaccine (OPV) dose through supplementary immunisation activities or vaccination campaigns as the area has remained inaccessible since September 2009 for security reasons.
It is for this reason that 22 cases were reported in this agency alone last year. Fourteen cases appeared in Bara sub-district and four each from Tirah and Landi Kotal areas. This, however, is the seventh polio case from the Milaward area of the Sama Gari village.
The claim is verified by the report, according to which over 40% of the children remained inaccessible in the agency for most of 2011, except July.
Twenty-three-month old Muhammad Talha, resident of Gul Imam Union Council of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district, suffered from the onset of paralysis on December 18.
According to the report, the boy’s family refused to have him vaccinated on religious grounds and he only received OPV drops twice as an infant.
This is the third polio case reported from Tank, the report said.
Of the total cases confirmed in Pakistan up till January 5, 72 cases were reported from Balochistan, 56 from Fata, 32 from Sindh, 22 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, eight from Punjab and one from Gilgit-Baltistan.
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I Hope Pakistan will be a Polio Free State very soon.