Polio virus: Peshawar most vulnerable city

WHO says 0.2 million children in the province missed out on vaccination.

PESHAWAR:

Children in Peshawar are most at risk of contracting polio, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The virus is circulating across Peshawar district and if the situation remains the same authorities may not be able to tackle the problem, the health organisation said.

The WHO chief for Polio Eradication Dr Elias Durry said in a statement that over 70,000 children missed the anti-polio vaccines in Peshawar district this year, while the number of children who missed vaccination in the province was more than 225,000.

“The WHO is not satisfied and is extremely concerned with the polio campaigns in Peshawar. The tribal areas have not reported any case of polio whereas Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has reported three cases during the past three months,” Dr Durry said, adding “The Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata) have shown excellent progress so far.”

An official from the provincial Polio Eradication Programme said they had focused their efforts on Peshawar after the virus was found in 15 union councils of Shaheen Muslim Town and Larama.

The WHO had taken samples from across the country in which the water for Peshawar was tested positive for the virus. There are security reasons which prevent us from reaching all children in the target age group,” he said.

He further said they had deployed doctors in the remaining 14 union councils of the district and also plan on hiring female workers to strengthen the campaigns. Micro plans will also be revised.

A total of five polio cases have been reported in the country since January. This included three from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Punjab and Sindh. Last year the country reported 58 cases with the highest, 27, from K-P.

The progress in Fata is limited to certain parts of the tribal belt as many areas are still out of reach for polio teams. The Taliban have banned the entry of polio workers in North and South Waziristan Agencies and said they will not be allowed till drone strikes are stopped.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2013.