SANA MAHMOOD
BANNU: According to DPO, parents – who did not want their children be vaccinated – shot at a lady polio worker who vaccinated their children here on Thursday.
RELEVANT PIECES PUBLISHED EARLIER
NIH confirms Badin’s 3rd Polio case in 5 years: Parents say child took drops!
SANA MAHMOOD
BADIN: WHO representative confirmed on Tuesday that 3rd Polio case in 5 years has been identified here.
According to details stool samples of 12-month-old Alim Khatoon were tested in Islamabad’s National Institute of Health (NIH). Where it has been established that the child was infected with the crippling disease.
The disturbing aspect is that the parents of the toddler say that since her birth she has been administered polio drops.
This episode insinuates that the medicine (administered with much fanfare) is often mishandled and due to heat becomes ineffective.
Pakistan is one of the last three countries where this virus still exists.
Will registration of FIR’s against parents refusing to administer anti-polio vaccine harm the cause?
SANA MAHMOOD
PESHAWAR: Though partner organizations here, advocating social acceptability, have expressed fear that lodging FIRs and arresting parents for refusing to administer anti-polio vaccine could harm the campaign, 88 arrest warrants were issued on Monday (November 7).
In absence of immunization-specific law district administration has been ordered to book defiant parents, under Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, as last resort.
Prior to arrests, jirgas (comprising of prayer leaders & members of union councils etc.) are sent to convince the apprehensive parents who are also convinced by experts about the importance of OPV.
As a result of all the concentrated efforts refusals by parents have decreased drastically from 15,000 to 1000. Arrested parents were also freed on agreeing to vaccinate their kids.
While one lac children missed the drops due to inaccessibility or parents’ refusals, 32000 vaccinators have been administering OPV to 5.6 million monthly.
SANA MAHMOOD
KARACHI: Six-day Anti-Polio Campaign has commenced in the Metropolis today (Monday). During this period 2.2 million children aged five or less would be administered polio drops in the Metropolis.
Overall 8.3 million infants would be targeted in the province of Sindh.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the last many months all the sewage (environment) samples were found negative. Hence the authorities are positive that they will succeed in eradicating poliovirus from the province.
Anti-Polio drive to kick-off in Baluchistan from Sept. 26th
SANA MAHMOOD
KARACHI: Due to its permeable borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan is finding it tricky to get rid of Polio (- a disease about which the rest of the world only reads in the history books -).
The concerted effort to eliminate this malady has dramatically reduced the 350,000 cases in 1988 to only 74 in 2015.
Yet Pakistan continues to suffer from the blight because i) due to its connection with the murder of Osama Bin Laden administration of Polio-drops has become a perilous métier; and ii) As soon as some degree of success is achieved the (so called) Afghan refugees bring the poliovirus anew.
Since this virus could be easily be exported to polio-free country i) All Pakistanis going abroad will soon be eyed as a possible carrier; and ii) In case we fail to eradicate the virus it will regain foothold and invade the world. This will attack the unimmunized populace, dramatically multiplying the present less than 100 cases to over 200,000 in just a decade.
There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
Parents must realize that there is no cure to the disease and only administration of multiple dozes is the modus operandi to contain this curse.
From September 26th some 6000 teams guarded by police, levies and FC personnel will attempt to ensure that 2.4 million kids below the age of 5 years get the drops.
PS: Presence of Poliovirus has been confirmed in 27 samples taken from Quetta’s sewerage water. That, unfortunately, manifests how far the campaigners are from their goal.
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Doctor Zakaullah Khan gunned-down by anti-polio-drops activists in Peshawar
SANA MAHMOOD
PESHAWAR: With the gunning down of Doctor Zakaullah Khan here on Saturday (August 11) night, the authors of this gruesome act scored their century of target-killing since December 2012.
According to sources senior member of the polio eradication campaign Dr. Khan was shot dead by pillion riders.
Jihadist militant group Jamaatul Ahrar on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack.
It is pertinent to mention here that seven police officers, escorting a Polio vaccination team, were shot dead last April.
CIA had choreographed the fake polio-vaccination drive in order to nab Osama Bin Laden. Hence, after the Abbotabad compound attack Taliban had been attacking polio workers.
Pakistan to achieve collective goal of polio eradication by 2017: Ayesha Farooq
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq said on Wednesday Pakistan was committed to achieve the collective goal of polio eradication by the end of 2017.
While briefing the Technical Advisory Group in Islamabad, Ayesha said that Pakistan has reported least polio cases during the last two years.
She said that Pakistan was thankful to all partner organizations for their technical, financial and political support in polio eradication.
Speaking on the occasion, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Pakistan Michel Thieren stressed the need for collective efforts on technical, operational, political and administrative levels to win the battle against poliovirus.”
Meanwhile, Senator Raza Rabbani said that ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb helped eradicate polio from the country and Pakistan will soon succeed in eradicating polio.
Talking to International Polio Plus Committee Chairman Michael K. McGovern in Islamabad, he said that Pakistan was totally committed to eliminate the polio menace.
“Operation Zarb-e-Azb has helped to extend the outreach for the eradication of polio due to which additional six hundred thousand children have been administered polio drops,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Michael K. McGovern said that International Polio Plus Committee is supporting Pakistan not only for the eradication of polio but also in increasing literacy and providing clean drinking water to people.
Pakistan hopes to be removed from polio-endemic countries list by 2018
ISLAMABAD: National coordinator of the Emergency Operation Centre Pakistan, Rana Safdar said on Wednesday that the country is moving closer to eradicating polio and Pakistan hopes to be removed from polio-endemic countries list by 2018.
In an interview, Safdar said: “This is in line with our objective of eliminating the disease which is endemic to Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan by the end of the year.”
He said that the number of polio cases has been reduced nearly to 0 % and only 11 new polio cases have been recorded in humans this year compared to 25 in 2015.
“It does not mean that we have cleaned the country of polio, but we have a lot of confidence that the intensity of the virus transmission has decreased to an all-time low,” said Safdar.
Referring to the militant attacks on polio immunization team in the various parts of the country that have claimed more than 100 lives since December 2012, he said that the government has assured an improving security situation for the immunization teams and efforts to educate communities who have traditionally been suspicious of vaccines has reduced the percentage of unvaccinated infants to “negligible”, against 5 percent in 2015 and 20 percent in 2014.
In February 2016, the government of Pakistan said that it hopes to eradicate the polio disease from the country by achieving its goal of no fresh cases by the end of 2016.
