Technical advisory group paints bleak picture, offers host of remedial suggestions. PHOTO: FILE
Two of the minors hail from Bannu, while two belong to South Waziristan. The total number of polio cases in the country has now reached 74 in 2014.
Out of the 74 cases, 57 are from FATA, 11 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and six from Sindh.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a “public health emergency” at the start of May after new polio cases began surfacing and spreading across borders from countries including Pakistan.
The disease remains endemic in Pakistan, which is responsible for 80 percent of polio cases diagnosed around the world this year.
Pakistan saw 91 cases last year, up from 58 in 2012.
Polio continues to surface, mainly in the tribal areas along the Afghan border and Karachi.
Polio traced back to Pakistan has been found in Afghanistan and Syria and the new campaign of vaccination is aimed not at eradicating the disease from Pakistan but at stopping its spread beyond its borders.
The government has now called on the army to go with health workers in the tribal areas and vaccinate anyone trying to leave.
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Pakistan can now bestow upon herself, without being contradicted by the rest of the world, the title Sole Islamic Polio Bio Weapon Power to add to the other self-bestowed title of Sole Islamic Nuclear Weapon Power.
What difference does it make that they hail from Bannu or Waziristan? Stupid parents of these innocent kids must be punished because we all are going to suffer.
Bannu is not a tribal area. It is a settled district of KPK. FR Bannu is a PATA, but the case was in settled area Bannu. KPK's Polio ka Insaf.
"...the new campaign of vaccination is aimed not at eradicating the disease from Pakistan but at stopping its spread beyond its borders."
So I guess as long as no one leaving Pakistan has polio, it's totally fine to ignore the disease's presence inside the country.
Shifting the vaccination campaign's focus off of the eradication of the disease from within Pakistan makes no sense whatsoever.