The National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad confirmed the case late Friday night. The victim is 11-month-old Rafia, the daughter of Idrees from Mera Aka Khel village, Bara tehsil. It was reported Rafia has not received a single dose of vaccine as yet.
With less than two months till year end, Rafia’s case takes the total to 236—143 more cases than 2013. Of these, 152 are from Fata, 48 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, 3 from Punjab and 10 from Balochistan.
Pakistan has already broken its 14-year-old record after crossing 200 polio cases in 2014. Many experts believe by the end of the year, the country would have at least 300 cases even as the remaining two endemic countries come closer to eliminating the virus. Afghanistan and Nigeria have less than 30 polio cases between them.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2014.
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