ISLAMABAD: The polio eradication campaign in Pakistan has come to a standstill after an alarming surge in cases last week.
Eight cases of polio among children have been reported in the last one month in the North Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan. Guardian informed of.
This is the first case in more than a year.
This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.
North Waziristan is a former Taliban Citadel in the North West PakistanWhere the high vaccine refusal rate is believed to be behind the new cases.
“Fake markings and denial are the two major reasons in the recent outbreak, with polio staff conspiring with parents to miss vaccinations,” said an official from Pakistan’s polio eradication programme. Health workers put marks on the fingers of vaccinated children
National program coordinator Shahzad Baig said: “The cases are shedding light on exactly where the challenges lie, and we are doing our best to ensure that the virus remains contained and that we keep fighting it till the end.”
Before this surge, the last case of child palsy as a result of polio was reported in January last year, the Guardian reported.
federal health minister, Abdul Qadir Patel Said: “After the first two cases in April, the polio program took immediate steps to cordon off the region and prevent further spread of the virus, especially in the historic reservoirs (of infection) of Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.
Terrorist groups in Pakistan have killed more than 100 health workers and their security guards since 2012.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan is one of only two countries, along with Afghanistan, where the wild polio virus is still endemic.
Eight cases of polio among children have been reported in the last one month in the North Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan. Guardian informed of.
This is the first case in more than a year.
This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.
North Waziristan is a former Taliban Citadel in the North West PakistanWhere the high vaccine refusal rate is believed to be behind the new cases.
“Fake markings and denial are the two major reasons in the recent outbreak, with polio staff conspiring with parents to miss vaccinations,” said an official from Pakistan’s polio eradication programme. Health workers put marks on the fingers of vaccinated children
National program coordinator Shahzad Baig said: “The cases are shedding light on exactly where the challenges lie, and we are doing our best to ensure that the virus remains contained and that we keep fighting it till the end.”
Before this surge, the last case of child palsy as a result of polio was reported in January last year, the Guardian reported.
federal health minister, Abdul Qadir Patel Said: “After the first two cases in April, the polio program took immediate steps to cordon off the region and prevent further spread of the virus, especially in the historic reservoirs (of infection) of Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.
Terrorist groups in Pakistan have killed more than 100 health workers and their security guards since 2012.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan is one of only two countries, along with Afghanistan, where the wild polio virus is still endemic.