PESHAWAR, March 10: The detection of only one positive case of polio in Charsadda district in the first quarter of the current year, has been termed a positive development, by deputy director of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), in the efforts to eradicate the disease.

“There were total 35 positive cases of polio last year. Only one case in the first quarter of the current year is pointing towards success, but we need greater efforts to eradicate the crippling ailment from Pakistan,” Dr Abdul Hamid Afridi, deputy director, EPI, said.

The case had been detected in Charsadda district, Dr Afridi said, adding that the polio drops were partially administered in the high-risk districts in January 2003, where about 4 million children were given the drops in 21 districts and seven agencies in Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

These were the areas from where most of the cases had been detected last year.

From March 4 to 6, another full round of polio drops was carried out, where some 5.6 million children were given drops with the help of 15,000 teams and 2,000 supervisors.

According to the WHO guidelines, a country could be declared polio-free when there was not even a single polio case  for a period of three consecutive years, said Dr Afridi.