QUETTA: Balochistan had no polio cases last year however confirmation of the virus in environmental sample has kept the province at risk of an outbreak, a Unicef official said Sunday. WHO Representative to Pakistan Dr Ni’ma Saeed Abid and Country Representative of Unicef Dan Rohrmann visited Quetta to discuss the risk of polio virus circulation in the province with Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Minister for Health Rahmat Baloch. “Balochistan has shown remarkable progress in polio eradication in last two years”, said Dr Jawahir Habib Communication Specialist from Unicef Quetta. “However, the province is still at a risk of polio virus circulation due to suboptimal quality of campaigns and extensive population movement between the provinces and across the borders,” she added. Balochistan had no polio cases last year; however confirmation of virus in environmental sample and recent polio case in Helmand district of southern Afghanistan has placed 2.24 million children of Balochistan at a risk of polio outbreak.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2014.
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