“The provinces should not slow down their efforts to fight against polio,” said PM’s focal Person on Polio Ayesha Raza Farooq. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: Three new cases of polio virus type-1 reported from the tribal regions were tested positive on Monday, raising the number of cases so far this year to 66. Of the cases emerging from Fata this year, none received any dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), a failure the prime minister’s focal person on polio has described as a ‘wake-up call’.
Of the new cases, two are from North Waziristan and one is from the neighbouring South Waziristan, according to a press statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell. Twenty-two-month-old Waqas, son of Miramshah resident Wali Muhammad and six-month-old Afsa Bibi, daughter of Miramshah resident Powneer are the latest victims of the crippling disease in North Waziristan.
In South Waziristan, 22-month-old Romana from Wana was tested positive for poliovirus. With these results, the total count of polio cases reported so far this year from South Waziristan stands at five, with North Waziristan at an alarming 44.
“It is very sad to see the continuous outbreak of polio in these areas which are inaccessible; every case which is reported from these areas bothers me a lot,” PM’s focal Person on Polio Ayesha Raza Farooq said. “However, every case of polio is a wake-up call for the community to start demanding the vaccine to secure the future of their children,” she added.
A two-day World Health Assembly session on polio interventions is scheduled for May 22 and May 23 in Geneva, where Ayesha is set to represent Pakistan. She said all-out efforts will be made to inform the international community that Pakistan is fully committed to eradicating polio from the country.
She will accompany Minister for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) Saira Afzal Tarar. Ayesha is determined to inform the international community that Pakistan is serious in effectively implementing travel restrictions and will share its plans to battle the scourge.
She said that on the directions of Nawaz Sharif, all provincial chief ministers have been directed to improve the quality of polio campaigns in their specific provinces.
“The provinces should not slow down their efforts to fight against polio,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2014.
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Travel curbs have nothing to do with polio eradication. Virus attacks only children under 5 yrs. polio vaccine to older is only to sanitise their gut. Wild polio virus is there in gut of healthy people also. When whole of a country is given P drops on a given day, the idea is to replace the wild polio virus n guts of children with attenuated ( half killed) virus. Wild P virus is expelled in to atmospher, where it can't survive. With repeated rounds of mass vaccination country becomes free of wild polio virus.
"Pakistan is fully committed to eradicating polio from the country." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Just like Pakistan is fully committed to eradicating terrorism , loadshedding and corruption from the country.