October 04, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 10, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Oct 3: Two new cases of polio were found in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) this month, officials said, adding that the number of polio victims in the NWFP and Fata had reached 10.

An official said that a two-and-a-half-year baby had been diagnosed as polio patient in Miramshah.

“The child, whose parents are Afghan refugees, had not received oral polio vaccine (OPVs),” he said, adding that refusal by families to get their children vaccinated had become a big problem for health personnel running the anti-polio campaign.

The official said the UN agencies and other donors were providing funds to carry out the Polio Eradication Initiative of the World Health Organisation, but some people in rural and FATA areas did not welcome the programme as they believed OPVs caused impotency.

A WHO official said they had obtained decrees from ulema which said OPVs were only meant to save children from the crippling ailment. However, he regretted, local clerics in rural areas were campaigning against the immunisation.

“The NWFP health department has failed to dispel the impression that OPVs caused impotency. Refusal by people to get their children vaccinated should be checked through law,” he suggested.

A Unicef official was critical of the lethargic attitude of the health department. “People representing UN agencies travel to far-flung areas of Fata and NWFP during the anti-polio campaigns, but the NWFP health officials do not go out of Peshawar,” he said.