Poliovirus infects two more children in K-P, FATA
Iqra is the 20th case reported from the province and had not been administered OPV.
PESHAWAR/LANDIKOTAL:
Two more children have been diagnosed with polio in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), respectively. A third was reported from Karachi, Sindh but not confirmed till the filing of this report.
With four months left before 2014 comes to an end, the country has 120 reported cases of the poliovirus compared with 93 in all of 2013.
Unvaccinated
One child has been diagnosed with polio in Lakki Marwat district. National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed the latest case.
According to NIH, the polio victim is 12-month-old Iqra, daughter of Usman Ghani, from Shahgai village, Sulemankhel.
Iqra had not received a single dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), said an official of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health department. Her parents had not allowed health workers to vaccinate their children, he added.
The second case confirmed on Monday was reported from Akakhel in Khyber Agency.
Zahidullah, the one-year-old son of Shad Khan from Dars Masjid in Akakhel, was diagnosed with the crippling virus. Zahidullah had received no dose of the OPV.
Rapid growth
Of the 120 reported cases of polio, 86 are from Fata—61 from North Waziristan, eight from South Waziristan, 15 from Khyber Agency and two from Frontier Region Bannu. In 2013, 65 cases had been reported from all of Fata with a total of 36 cases reported from NWA and 19 from Khyber.
After Iqra’s case, K-P has 20 reported cases of polio, out of which eight have been from Peshawar, nine from Bannu, one from Mardan and two from Lakki Marwat. Eleven cases were reported from K-P in 2013.
July noted two firsts—the first case in rural Sindh, and the first in Balochistan after a gap of 30 months. In August, Punjab reported its first polio diagnosis for the year 2014.
Border crossings
Children going through the Pak-Afghan Torkham border were vaccinated by polio teams on Sunday. Polio officials work at the border in two shifts in an effort to immunise all children entering or exiting Pakistan.
Torkham polio supervisor Inayatullah said 10 health workers on each side of the border were on duty. In two shifts, the teams manage to immunise between 1,200 to 1,300 children daily, he said. Around 100 children miss getting vaccinated in a day due to various reasons.
Inayatullah said they are never short of vaccines which are stored at the basic health unit in Torkham inside a solar-powered freezer at the polio centre. The Torkham polio centre remains very active and immunises all children transiting through this border, he added.
Hot weather and traffic cause hurdles but they are coping, said Inayatullah. World Health Organization officials also check their performance after regular intervals, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2014.
Two more children have been diagnosed with polio in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), respectively. A third was reported from Karachi, Sindh but not confirmed till the filing of this report.
With four months left before 2014 comes to an end, the country has 120 reported cases of the poliovirus compared with 93 in all of 2013.
Unvaccinated
One child has been diagnosed with polio in Lakki Marwat district. National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed the latest case.
According to NIH, the polio victim is 12-month-old Iqra, daughter of Usman Ghani, from Shahgai village, Sulemankhel.
Iqra had not received a single dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), said an official of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health department. Her parents had not allowed health workers to vaccinate their children, he added.
The second case confirmed on Monday was reported from Akakhel in Khyber Agency.
Zahidullah, the one-year-old son of Shad Khan from Dars Masjid in Akakhel, was diagnosed with the crippling virus. Zahidullah had received no dose of the OPV.
Rapid growth
Of the 120 reported cases of polio, 86 are from Fata—61 from North Waziristan, eight from South Waziristan, 15 from Khyber Agency and two from Frontier Region Bannu. In 2013, 65 cases had been reported from all of Fata with a total of 36 cases reported from NWA and 19 from Khyber.
After Iqra’s case, K-P has 20 reported cases of polio, out of which eight have been from Peshawar, nine from Bannu, one from Mardan and two from Lakki Marwat. Eleven cases were reported from K-P in 2013.
July noted two firsts—the first case in rural Sindh, and the first in Balochistan after a gap of 30 months. In August, Punjab reported its first polio diagnosis for the year 2014.
Border crossings
Children going through the Pak-Afghan Torkham border were vaccinated by polio teams on Sunday. Polio officials work at the border in two shifts in an effort to immunise all children entering or exiting Pakistan.
Torkham polio supervisor Inayatullah said 10 health workers on each side of the border were on duty. In two shifts, the teams manage to immunise between 1,200 to 1,300 children daily, he said. Around 100 children miss getting vaccinated in a day due to various reasons.
Inayatullah said they are never short of vaccines which are stored at the basic health unit in Torkham inside a solar-powered freezer at the polio centre. The Torkham polio centre remains very active and immunises all children transiting through this border, he added.
Hot weather and traffic cause hurdles but they are coping, said Inayatullah. World Health Organization officials also check their performance after regular intervals, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2014.