Pakistan’s dream to eradicate polio far away prospect despite USD 5 bln spending

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 4 (ANI): Pakistan’s dream to eradicate Polio from the country seems to be a far-away prospect despite the spending of USD 5 billion during the last 27 years.
Around USD 5 billion has so far been spent on the polio eradication drive in Pakistan since 1994 as the program started with the administration of polio dose to Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, the daughter of then-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The country has seen two back-to-back polio cases on in April 22. The inability of Pakistan to make the country polio-free is instilling deep mistrust in some sections of society. These sections do not have faith in the anti-polio campaign and the law and order situation reported by Geo TV.
According to experts, a deep mistrust is seen among Pashtun communities living on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. They fear the Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV) drives as a recent wave of insurgency and attacks on security forces in former tribal areas have gripped the region.
The drive also failed to track missed children during the polio vaccination campaigns and this becomes a key reason behind the relapsing of polio cases in the country.
People say that more polio cases could emerge from the tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pashtun areas of Balochistan, and super high-risk union councils in Karachi in the coming high-transmission season of summer, as per the media portal.
They highlight the poor quality of the vaccination drive. Pakistan reported the second polio case from North Waziristan on Friday when a two-year-old baby girl was found infected with polio, while a 15-month-old boy was found crippled with the dreaded poliovirus in the same area on April 22. (ANI)