Crippling disease: First polio case of 2014 reported

The National Institute of Health confirms the first polio case of 2014 reported from North Waziristan.

ISLAMABAD:

The National Institute of Health (NIH) on Friday confirmed the first polio case of 2014 reported from North Waziristan.

“The case has been reported from the area which has remained inaccessible to polio teams for the last two years,” said sources in the NIH laboratory.

Prime Minister’s Polio Cell National Coordinator Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar said that Pakistan is making all out efforts to eradicate polio from the country.

“However the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Gadap and Baldia Town in Karachi have become a major hurdle in its fight against polio,” he said.

He said that these areas remain inaccessible to polio teams during anti-polio drives due to which children living in these areas remained deprived of getting polio drops.

However to address these issue the government has drafted the National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Polio Eradication 2014 which will soon be tabled. “There is a need to vaccinate every single child under the age of five years.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2014.