A RECORD number of polio cases have been detected this year in Pakistan, officials say.
AT least 202 cases have been confirmed so far this year, compared to the previous record of 199 cases in 2000.
An official of the National Institute of Health in Islamabad said on Saturday eight new cases had in fact been detected the previous evening. He said six of the new cases were from tribal areas and the adjacent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and one each from southern port city of Karachi and southwestern city of Quetta. Health officials were concluding a five-day nationwide campaign aimed at immunising 34 million children. Saira Afzal Tarar, minister for national health services, said security was one of the main reasons for the spread of poliovirus as health workers cannot go into areas Taliban fighters are active. Rana Safdar, chief of anti-polio efforts at the National Institute of Health, said parents’ reluctance to co-operate also hampered the immunisation drive. There are rumours spread by the militants that anti-polio vaccine is a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslims. Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is still endemic.