(MENAFN- Tribal News Network) LAKKI MARWAT: Four more polio cases have surfaced from Lakki Marwat after which the toll in Pakistan this year has mounted to 16.
Nine polio cases have surfaced in Lakki Marwat so for this year. Lakki Marwat also carried the stigma of being on top in polio cases in the whole country in 2019 and this year has also started dangerously for the southern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In the fresh cases in Lakki Marwat, two have been reported from Betani sub-division, while one each case has been reported from Abakhel and Bakhmal Ahmedzai.
The fresh cases in Lakki Marwat have surfaced a week after two cases were reported from the district on February 08. An official of the National Institute of Health said that an 18-month-old boy was infected with poliovirus in Ghundi Hasankhel union council in tehsil Betani, while the other case surfaced in Kot Kashmir union council in tehsil Serai Naurang where a nine-month-old girl was infected.
Pakistan had controlled poliovirus to a great extent in 2017 and 2018 during which only eight and 12 cases were reported respectively. But the 2019 proved a precarious year for anti-polio efforts as 144 cases were reported and now the 2020 has also started dangerously with 16 cases in the first 40 days.
Last year, 97 cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including 32 in Lakki Marwat. Even this year, Lakki Marwat is carrying the stigma of being on top in emergence of polio cases.
Various reasons have been pointed out for so many polio cases in Lakki Marwat. The main reason is stated to be the refusal of some parents to administer polio vaccine to their children.
Every month, a campaign is launched in Lakki Marwat to vaccinate 194,000 children below the age of five years and about 20,000 parents refuse vaccination to their children during every campaign. Officials said the local Ulema and district administration officials hold sessions with the refusing parents and manage to agree about 14,000 parents to administer polio vaccination to children, but there are 6,000 other parents who don't agree through any mean and they are spoiling the whole effort to achieve the target of polio free region.
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