Officials struggle for answers after polio count reaches 46

Lay blame on militancy, negative propaganda, but offer few tangible solutions.


Asad Zia October 18, 2013
5,994 children could not be vaccinated because of parental refusal, shedding some light on earlier claims of ‘negative propaganda’. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR:


After the total number of polio cases in the province and tribal areas hit 41, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and FATA Secretariat officials justified the increase by blaming it on the usual suspects – law and order and negative propaganda. However, neither department offered much-needed solutions for what amounts to a polio crisis.


The total number of polio cases in Pakistan has reached 46.

Talking to The Express Tribune, EPI Deputy Director Dr Janbaz Afridi claimed the rise in cases could be controlled with a strengthened regular immunisation programme in areas where children remain out of reach. The next drive which would start next week will focus on areas where cases are being reported, explained Afridi.

He claimed, the health department would ensure 100% administration of the polio vaccine.

On the contrary, the recently concluded anti-polio drive in Peshawar was shy of its target by an astounding 40,383 children. Of these, nearly 18,000 were unaccounted for.

Dr Afridi shared some 5,994 children could not be vaccinated because of parental refusal, shedding some light on earlier claims of ‘negative propaganda’.

Another 16,000 children were missed by the drive because they were possibly travelling for Eid. These will be targeted by “special teams of vaccinators and staff who will be placed at motorway toll booths.”

Such teams will also be arranged to reach parents who refused to let their children be vaccinated, with hopes of a different outcome.

FATA

Blaming militancy and the ‘ban’ on polio inoculations, a senior health department official said not a single child has been reached since 2009 in parts of Bara, Khyber Agency. The ban against polio vaccines was placed in 2012 in North and South Waziristan by Taliban commanders.

Excluding parts of those three agencies, 727,317 children were vaccinated in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in 2013. A staggeringly high number of children – 163,000 – from North Waziristan have remained inaccessible.

According to the Fata health department official, a total 34 cases of polio have been reported from Fata – 14 from Khyber Agency, 14 from North Waziristan, 5 from Frontier Region (FR) Bannu and one from FR DI Khan. As Khyber is centrally located, it has an intense circulation of wild polio virus type-1.

Recent reports reveal another type of polio virus has been doing the rounds in North Waziristan, a Sabian-2 like virus which has possibly infected 28 people.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2013.

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