PESHAWAR: A three-day anti-polio campaign will begin in Pakistan’s troubled tribal regions bordering Afghanistan from Monday in five agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). However, it will not be carried out in North and South Waziristan.

An official said yesterday that 20,000 teams have been constituted to administer vaccination to over 0.7 million children. He added that around 0.2m children will not be immunised in North and South Waziristan agencies due to the ban imposed on vaccination teams by the Taliban.

Twenty polio cases were reported in Fata last year, while Taliban leaders Gul Bahadur and late Mullah Nazir banned polio teams in their agencies in June last year. Health workers have repeatedly come under attack in various parts of Pakistan for taking part in the vaccination drives.

Internews