Eighth polio case discovered in north Pakistan

New case of polio diagnosed in Khyber tribal area of northern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, raised the number of polio cases this year to eight in the region. A one-year-old girl was diagnosed with type P1 of the poliovirus in Bara's Malik Dinkhel area of Khyber tribal region. The reason for the rise of polio cases was due to ongoing militancy resulting in lack of social mobilization campaigns in the region. The child did not receive any dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and was tested positive at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad. Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) constitute of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts of northern Pakistan near the Afghan border, including Khyber Agency, rife with homegrown insurgents and home to religious extremist organizations. The militants used the area to put pressure on the provincial capital and the key area also straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan. This was the eighth polio case reported only from Khyber Agency during the last six weeks, as the militancy-hit area in which the family lives is inaccessible for vaccination teams since September 2009. Four cases were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Sindh and Punjab got two cases each this year. The FATA reported a total of 11 polio cases, eight of them in Bara tehsil since 2012, as Bara area has been under curfew for the past three years, barring access to anti-polio vaccinators. Over 160,000 children in North Waziristan and 157,000 children in South Waziristan are now at risk of contracting deadly ailments as militants use violence to implement the ban. The militants have killed at least 20 volunter health workers and policemen that participated in polio eradication campaigns since December 2012. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif met a delegation of the FATA, stressed the need for mainstreaming FATA and bringing it at par with the rest of country. The government was committed to working for the socio-economic uplift of FATA and to improve the living standards of the people of those areas, said the Premier.