The number of cases for poliovirus in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) during 2014 was as high as 179 and it corresponded to a countrywide count of 306. Although things changed when this number got the attention of international institutions; that is when the government decided to declare a polio emergency in the country.
As of 2018, the region has been virtually polio-free for the past two years, with the last polio case to be reported anywhere in the belt coming on July 27, 2016.
According to a local media report, the health officials stated that no case has been reported in the last 24 months, adding that even though there is no case, the circulation of the virus in the area continues to pose a serious threat.
“Cases in the country have dropped from the high of 306 in 2014 to just eight last years and three so far this year. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and FATA, this fell from a combined high of 247 in 2014 to one last year in KP and none this year,” the report said.
Furthermore, the polio workers and health officials have taken up different strategies at different stages to tackle the virus. The efforts put in by the political administration and the security forces have been appreciated by the workers.
The last vaccination campaign, in the first week of August, saw some 0.8million children, below five-years-of-age, vaccinated by some 3,651 teams of vaccinators including 3,406 mobile, 167 fixed and 78 transit teams.
Earlier before the campaign started, a statement issued from the secretariat for the tribal districts read that Emergency Operation Center (EOC) had almost achieved their targets and hailed the performance of frontline workers as exceptional.
