ISLAMABAD: A new polio case has been reported from the Frontier Region of Pesha­war, raising the countrywide count for this year to 40.

The area is part of a “conv­eyer belt” for the virus, as declared by the Ind­ependent Monitoring Boa­rd for Polio in a recent report.

The IMB stressed the need to focus on Peshawar valley and the Federally Adminis­tered Tribal Areas (Fata), describing the region as possibly the last reservoir of wild poliovirus in the world.

Take a look: IMB notes improvement in Pakistan’s efforts against polio

The authorities are considering hiring community volunteers for FR Peshawar because around 10 families live in each compound in the area and it becomes impossible for the anti-polio teams to ensure that every child has been vaccinated.

According to sources in the Ministry of National Health Services, poliovirus has been reported in a 17-month-old boy.

During the current year, 15 cases have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Fata, six from Balochistan, five from Sindh and one from Punjab.

Citing preliminary reports, the polio Emer­gency Operation Centre’s chief Dr Rana Safdar told Dawn that the latest affected child belonged to a family that had declined the vaccination.

“Around 10 families live in each compound in the area and according to local culture polio vaccination team members are not allowed to enter the premises.

The teams wait outside the compounds and children are brought there for the vaccination,” he said.

“Although routine immunisation rate is low in the area, an anti-polio campaign last month remained successful because we achieved over 90 per cent target,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015