PESHAWAR:
As the Federally Administered Tribal Areas reported yet another polio case late Monday, the country’s total climbed to 237 this year.
According to officials of the health department, the latest child to fall victim to the crippling virus is seven-month-old Attiqur Rehman, son of Rahat Shah. The child is a resident of Chapari area in Lashora village of Jamrud, Khyber Agency.
Attiq has not received a single dose of the oral polio vaccine. With the total reaching 237, at least 153 infected children belong to Fata, 48 to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 23 to Sindh, while Balochistan and Punjab have reported 10 and three cases, respectively.
Pakistan continues to grapples with a polio outbreak with a majority of the cases reported from high-risk areas where vaccinators are periodically targeted.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization slapped travel restrictions on Pakistan making it mandatory for international travellers to present an officially-issued certificate proving they had been vaccinated against the virus.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2014.
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