Four more children diagnosed with polio
Campaign for IDPs in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to kick off July 1.
PESHAWAR:
Four more polio cases were confirmed the same day that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s health directorate announced it will initiate another polio-eradication campaign on the format of ‘Sehat ka Insaf’ programme for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from July 1.
The polio virology lab at National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed the first-ever wild type-1 polio case from Mardan. Four-month-old Abdur Rehman, son of Sultan Sher, hailing from Muhammadzai village was diagnosed with the crippling disease.
The affected child has received no doses of the vaccine even though the official team has visited the village several times during the Sehat ka Insaf drive. His family among others had refused to vaccinate the children.
The second case was reported from North Waziristan. Janoor, the 28-month-old son of Gul Faraz Khan of Shoi Khel village in Miramshah tehsil.
Four-month-old Tooba, daughter of Rahimullah of Deri village stop, Peshawar was the third child diagnosed with poliovirus on Saturday, despite the fact that Peshawar’s water samples were recently declared clear of poliovirus for two consecutive months by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Separately, in the Mitha Khel union council, Bannu tehsil, it was confirmed that 10-month-old Faridullah Shah, son of Gul Sabir Shah, has poliovirus. The area leads in polio vaccination refusals.
Sehat ka Insaf for IDPs
The new drive is specifically being organised for IDP children in Hangu, Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), but the children of the area will also be vaccinated.
“It is a UAE initiative and will be continuing for the coming three months,” a health official told The Express Tribune. During July, August and September, an estimated 0.7 million children will be vaccinated, he added. The campaigns will be carried out every Sunday.
Bannu is not only the major district to receive an influx of IDPs but, according to health officials, it also remains the district to have the most polio-refusal cases throughout the country.
The number of families refusing polio drops in Bannu district exceeds the number of children missed due to other reasons.
“There is also the threat of different diseases spreading due to the mass movement of people whose children were not earlier immunised,” said an official of the K-P health directorate.
The exodus of people from North Waziristan is seen an opportunity to immunise children against different diseases as there has been no polio eradication campaign in the area since 2012.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2014.
Four more polio cases were confirmed the same day that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s health directorate announced it will initiate another polio-eradication campaign on the format of ‘Sehat ka Insaf’ programme for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from July 1.
The polio virology lab at National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed the first-ever wild type-1 polio case from Mardan. Four-month-old Abdur Rehman, son of Sultan Sher, hailing from Muhammadzai village was diagnosed with the crippling disease.
The affected child has received no doses of the vaccine even though the official team has visited the village several times during the Sehat ka Insaf drive. His family among others had refused to vaccinate the children.
The second case was reported from North Waziristan. Janoor, the 28-month-old son of Gul Faraz Khan of Shoi Khel village in Miramshah tehsil.
Four-month-old Tooba, daughter of Rahimullah of Deri village stop, Peshawar was the third child diagnosed with poliovirus on Saturday, despite the fact that Peshawar’s water samples were recently declared clear of poliovirus for two consecutive months by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Separately, in the Mitha Khel union council, Bannu tehsil, it was confirmed that 10-month-old Faridullah Shah, son of Gul Sabir Shah, has poliovirus. The area leads in polio vaccination refusals.
Sehat ka Insaf for IDPs
The new drive is specifically being organised for IDP children in Hangu, Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), but the children of the area will also be vaccinated.
“It is a UAE initiative and will be continuing for the coming three months,” a health official told The Express Tribune. During July, August and September, an estimated 0.7 million children will be vaccinated, he added. The campaigns will be carried out every Sunday.
Bannu is not only the major district to receive an influx of IDPs but, according to health officials, it also remains the district to have the most polio-refusal cases throughout the country.
The number of families refusing polio drops in Bannu district exceeds the number of children missed due to other reasons.
“There is also the threat of different diseases spreading due to the mass movement of people whose children were not earlier immunised,” said an official of the K-P health directorate.
The exodus of people from North Waziristan is seen an opportunity to immunise children against different diseases as there has been no polio eradication campaign in the area since 2012.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2014.