PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The number of polio victims in the country during the current year has reached 209 after two new polio cases were confirmed by the polio virology laboratory of the national institute of health.
The new polio cases have been reported in an 18-month-old girl from the Sra Cheena village of Akka Khel in Khyber Agency’s Bara tehsil while another child was diagnosed with the virus in Ghawa Khawa village of Wana tehsil in South Waziristan.
The volatile federally administered tribal areas (FATA) leads with the most number of polio cases at 138, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 43.
Likewise, 19 polio cases were reported in Sindh and six in Balochistan while three children were diagnosed with the virus in Punjab.
Pakistan responsible for 80 percent polio cases: WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that Pakistan is responsible for nearly 80 percent of polio cases reported globally.
“The situation is primarily due to a lack of access to children for vaccination, largely owing to a continuing ban on immunisation imposed by militants in the North and South Waziristan, and insecurity and killing of polio workers in the field,” a progress report said.
“Pakistan remains the greatest single risk to the achievement of global polio eradication. Issues involving children’s access to immunisation and safety of vaccinators must be resolved to ensure that the programme can be completed,” the report said.
