ISLAMABAD: After being closed to vaccinators for nearly two years, a door-to-door polio immunisation campaign will be launched in the restive South Waziristan agency from Nov 24, sources told Dawn on Thursday, just as the agency reported yet another polio case

Local jirgas, tribal elders, the local political administration and other government departments have been taken on board to ensure that the teams are provided complete security, while the army will also helping the workers.

Polio vaccination had been banned in South Waziristan by the Taliban after it emerged that Dr Shakeel Afridi used the guise of a polio vaccinator to gain access to Osama Bin Laden’s DNA, resulting in US action against the Al Qaeda leader who was hiding in Abbottabad at the time.

A Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) official told Dawn that as the single largest tribal agency, South Waziristan was a priority area in the fight against polio. He said that if the agency’s children could be properly vaccinated, it would go a long way in curbing the spread of polio from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which have been the epicentre of most recent polio cases from Pakistan.

Four more cases confirmed, including one from SWA

The number of polio cases being reported in the country is steadily rising and has become a major embarrassment and potential threat for Pakistan on the international level. Due to the export of what is now known globally as the ‘Pakistan poliovirus’, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) committee recommended the imposition of restrictions on anyone travelling abroad from Pakistan’s shores.

These restrictions were so far limited to the presentation of a valid certificate of immunisation at the time of departure. However, recent developments indicate that if things do not improve drastically, travellers from Pakistan may have to face similar curbs when trying to enter other countries as well.

On Thursday, at a consultative session held at the NHS ministry, the government finalised a plan of action over the next six months, which are generally considered low transmission season. An official statement quoted NHS Minister Saira Afzal Tarar as saying, “We are on a mission to save our children and have no choice but to perform”.

“We are mindful of the international concern, but that should come later and we should be accountable to our own people; to our children, communities and families. There can be no excuse for under-performing,” she said.

Fresh polio cases

The Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health confirmed as many as four fresh cases on Thursday. This takes the total number of cases reported this year has reached to 257.

A health department official told Dawn that three of the cases have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and one from South Waziristan in Fata.

He said that this year as many as 162 cases have been reported from Fata and 54 cases have been reported from KP.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2014