In Pakistan, The Push To Eradicate Polio Competes With “The Zillion Other Issues”

Despite hundreds of millions in international aid funds, vaccination drives and decades of awareness campaigns, Pakistan remains polio’s last refuge.

Zofeen Ebrahim
By Zofeen Ebrahim
Pakistan Polio

KARACHI, Pakistan --- The number of reported cases of polio crossed the 200 mark this month, confirming Pakistani health officials' worst fears: The viral disease is out of control. In 2012 and 2013, polio cases were down significantly -- 58 and 93, respectively. However, when the country reported its 212th case this week, it shattered its own

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Military Operation Opens Immunization Window In Pakistan

The mass exodus of Pakistanis fleeing the dangers of war has a surprising bright side: polio vaccinators can finally reach previously unreachable children.

Zofeen Ebrahim
By Zofeen Ebrahim
Pakistan Polio

KARACHI, Pakistan --- As the Pakistan army continues to flush out militants and destroy their hideouts, 1 million residents have fled North Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They’re risking their lives to escape the dangers of war, and in the process, they’ve become another source

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Polio Exporter: Pakistan Slapped With Travel Restrictions

Strains of the polio virus found throughout the world have been traced back to Pakistan, so it was only a matter of time before the country’s travelers would face travel restrictions.

Zofeen Ebrahim
By Zofeen Ebrahim

Naeem Sadiq, a Karachi-based businessman, was set to travel to London, Vancouver and Baltimore, last week to visit his children, but then he heard about possible travel restrictions to be imposed on Pakistanis. With just two days before he was scheduled to leave, he rushed to find out from various hospitals, government health departments and

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CIA’s Fake Vaccination Ruse Fueling Polio Outbreak: Pakistani Official

Foreign Ministry spokesperson says CIA’s 2011 plot has sparked hostility to vaccination drives and hampered efforts to stem outbreak of highly infectious disease.

Sarah Lazare
By Sarah Lazare

A Pakistani official on Thursday slammed the CIA's fake vaccination drive in 2011 for fueling distrust of polio eradication campaigns and driving "attacks on polio workers" as the country grapples with an outbreak of this highly infectious disease that is spiraling into a global emergency. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing, a

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Pakistani Polio Strain Threatens Global Campaign

Pakistan’s beleaguered battle to eradicate polio is threatening a global, multi-billion-dollar campaign to wipe out the disease worldwide.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
In this Feb. 9, 2014 photo, a Pakistani health worker vaccinates a child against polio, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistan’s beleaguered battle to eradicate polio is threatening a global, multi-billion dollar campaign to wipe out the disease worldwide. Because of Pakistan, the virus is spreading to countries that were previously polio free, say U.N officials. “The largest poliovirus reservoir of the world,” is in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, 11-month-old Shaista was pulling herself up, giggling as she took her first wobbly steps with the helping hand of her teenage mother. Then the polio virus struck and Shaista was no longer able to stand, her legs buckling beneath her weight. Today, her mother cries a lot and wonders what will become

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Pakistan: Where Conspiracy Theories Can Cost A Child’s Life

American parents have the luxury of being able to buy into vaccine conspiracies as their children are protected by others’ immunity. But with Pakistan’s polio epidemic, the results are tragic.

Mariya Karimjee
By Mariya Karimjee
Pakistani Polio

KARACHI, Pakistan — When health workers approached Zulfikar Quaid about inoculating his three children against polio, Quaid picked up an old cricket bat inside his home and waved it at them. "Get out of my house," he yelled. "My children are Muslim and we don't need your dirty Hindu drugs." The health workers he was yelling at were stunned —

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