Polio setback

At least 14 new cases of the polio virus are reported to have surfaced in North Waziristan and the adjacent Frontier Region Bannu, creating a sense of panic among experts. The emergence of the new cases in North Waziristan, in particular, can be directly linked to the ban placed on polio vaccination by militant groups in June last year, who stated at the time that it would be allowed to resume only if drone attacks were stopped. This action by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction of the Taliban and also affiliated groups put the welfare of some 250,000 children at stake. It now seems the pitfalls of this are surfacing, with more polio cases cropping up in the area covered by the ban than anywhere else in the country.

There are other problems too. Rains across all four provinces have delayed a polio vaccination campaign that was to begin on the 13^th of this month. It is uncertain when it will be possible to go ahead with this. But warnings have come in that the monsoon season is the time when the polio virus spreads most rapidly, meaning that the risk of infection is highest at this point. Attempts to resume the campaign, both for children in their homes and for those living in flood relief camps are said to be on, but we can only hope there will be no further delay in moving on with the inoculations so that we can be spared the risk of more children falling victim to the potentially crippling disease.

As it is, Pakistan remains one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic. We need to do all that we can to get off this list and by doing so, ensure a safer future for our children. It is simply unacceptable that militants or any other force should be able to prevent us from moving towards this. Policies need to be devised to overcome the problem and make sure vaccinations can be delivered to each and every child in the country, no matter where they live.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2013.

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