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LAHORE: Ultimately, only children are going to suffer as a result of targeting polio vaccinators in Pakistan. The most recent tragedy happened in Quetta and this is a city where 14 cases of polio have been reported so far. Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic and attempts to stamp it out have been badly hit by opposition from militants and attacks on immunisation teams, which have claimed more than 60 lives in the last two years.
Five females and two male workers were busy during the last day of their polio campaign in Quetta when two men opened fire on them in which three females and one male worker lost their lives and the remaining three were injured. Now the lady health workers team has announced that it would stop its work in the province as it cannot work in such an insecure environment where lives are at risk. Lady health workers have also started protesting against the tragic killing of the polio team members and are demanding justice. The Balochistan government is trying to provide universal coverage of immunisation to tackle the spread of polio. However, the situation is now very serious and it seems that Pakistan will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reduction in the child mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015. The Balochistan government should leave no stone unturned in trying to ensure that those behind last week’s most dastardly attacks are caught and prosecuted.
Uzma Idrees
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2014.
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