Two fresh cases surface in K-P, Khyber
Officials blame K-P’s one-day campaign over missed targets
A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a young child at a polio vaccination center. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s polio count in 2015 has reached three following the confirmation of two more polio cases — one from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and another from Khyber Agency.
The polio virology laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed these two new cases of polio, one each from Lakki Marwat and Khyber Agency. Last year, K-P recorded the second highest number of polio cases.
In November last year, a special action plan was chalked out in Bhurban, Murree, to arrest the poliovirus during low transmission season but sadly the country’s polio count has already started adding up in the first month of the year, which reflects the ineffectiveness of the plan, said officials in the K-P health department, requesting not to be named.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the sources said that despite getting reminders and directions from the federal authorities, the K-P government has failed to improve the coverage of the anti-polio drive and has reported 83% coverage on the first day of the year’s first nationwide anti-polio drive.
Sharing the details, they said out of 93 union councils only 25 had 90% coverage during the one-day anti-polio drive carried out on January 18, which is sub-optimal and alarming not only for the province but for the entire nation.
The officials added that the strategy of carrying out a one-day polio campaign has not proven effective.
“Considering the bitter fact that Peshawar has been declared the world’s largest reservoir of endemic polio virus by the WHO, there is a need to do some serious work in the city rather than conducting various kinds of experiments,” an official said.
Minister of State of National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar talking to The Express Tribune, said federal government has given all the logistical support to K-P government for this purpose.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2015.
Pakistan’s polio count in 2015 has reached three following the confirmation of two more polio cases — one from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and another from Khyber Agency.
The polio virology laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed these two new cases of polio, one each from Lakki Marwat and Khyber Agency. Last year, K-P recorded the second highest number of polio cases.
In November last year, a special action plan was chalked out in Bhurban, Murree, to arrest the poliovirus during low transmission season but sadly the country’s polio count has already started adding up in the first month of the year, which reflects the ineffectiveness of the plan, said officials in the K-P health department, requesting not to be named.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the sources said that despite getting reminders and directions from the federal authorities, the K-P government has failed to improve the coverage of the anti-polio drive and has reported 83% coverage on the first day of the year’s first nationwide anti-polio drive.
Sharing the details, they said out of 93 union councils only 25 had 90% coverage during the one-day anti-polio drive carried out on January 18, which is sub-optimal and alarming not only for the province but for the entire nation.
The officials added that the strategy of carrying out a one-day polio campaign has not proven effective.
“Considering the bitter fact that Peshawar has been declared the world’s largest reservoir of endemic polio virus by the WHO, there is a need to do some serious work in the city rather than conducting various kinds of experiments,” an official said.
Minister of State of National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar talking to The Express Tribune, said federal government has given all the logistical support to K-P government for this purpose.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2015.