Pakistan launches new anti-polio drive after 3rd case found

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan launched a new anti-polio drive on Monday, greater than per week after officers detected the third case up to now this year within the nation’s northwestern area bordering Afghanistan.

The marketing campaign — the third one this year — is to final for 5 days, aiming to inoculate 40 million youngsters beneath the age of 5 throughout the nation.

Pakistan has beforehand carried out two anti-polio campaigns this year, in January and March, after discovering just one case of the illness final year, which raised hopes the nation was near eliminating polio. This year’s first case was registered in April.

An announcement from Dr. Shahbaz Baig, the spokesperson for the nation’s polio program, urged dad and mom to cooperate with polio staff within the door-to-door marketing campaign.

Pakistan’s anti-polio campaigns are commonly marked by violence. Islamic militants typically goal polio groups and police assigned to guard them, falsely claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize youngsters.

During the March marketing campaign, gunmen in northwestern Pakistan shot and killed a feminine polio employee as she was returning dwelling after a day of vaccinations. And in January, gunmen shot and killed a police officer offering safety for polio vaccination staff, additionally within the nation’s northwest.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the one remaining nations on the planet nonetheless making an attempt to eradicate polio, which may trigger extreme paralysis in youngsters.