Five more polio cases surface in KP

–Three cases were reported from Bannu, while two cases emerged in Torghar

PESHAWAR: Five new cases of the polio virus were reported in Bannu and Torghar areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday.

According to the provincial government’s health department, three cases of polio were reported in Bannu and two cases were reported in Torghar, bringing the number of cases to 31 in the province for this year.

In all of the five cases, the children had not been administered the zero dose of the vaccine.

In a press statement issued by Swabi Deputy Commissioner Kamran Ahmad Afridi: “All the efforts put in by the provincial government to eradicate polio from the region will not be achieved unless the refusing parents understand that their individual decision to refuse anti-polio vaccines not only demonstrates indifference to their child’s health but is also an expression of disregard to the national cause of polio eradication that we must have to achieve as a nation.”

Along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is one of the only three countries where complete polio eradication has not yet been achieved.