Tag Archives: polio

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces are prone to a large outbreak of polio if they do not reform their immunization drives.

A fast resurgent polio virus has turned Pakistan into a “polio comfort zone” and is evoking fears of its export worldwide but Islamabad’s efforts remain bureaucratic and confusing, lacking effective leadership.

In under four weeks’ time (5 April) Afghanistan’s 12 million voters will get the chance to elect one of 11 candidates to replace President Hamid Karzai, in what observers hope will be the country’s first ever peaceful and democratic handover of power.   It will be one of the biggest challenges in a vital year of transition for the country, …

On the eve of World Polio Day 2013, this highlighted an ever-increasing trust deficit between the government and the parents of at-risk children in outlying communities, a deficit that is costing Pakistani lives. We are at a strange turning point, where our indisputable success is marred by our unfortunate failures. The polio eradication campaign’s numbers are certainly impressive on paper. …

Fear and secrecy have cloaked the roll-out of a polio campaign currently underway in northern Nigeria. Vaccinators are concealing their identities, hiding vaccinations under their veils and visiting some areas only with undercover armed guards, following the February murder by Boko Haram of nine polio workers in the northern city of Kano. “The [polio] campaign is done under an atmosphere of fear …