Pakistani authorities have suspended an anti-polio drive in two volatile tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province after several police officers refused to provide security to medical teams during the door-to-door vaccination campaign. Militants often attack police escorting polio teams. Two officers were killed in the latest attack in the southwestern Balochistan Province on August 1. The vaccination campaign will continue in the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as planned, officials said. Militants falsely claim that vaccination programs are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children. Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is still endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, click here.
Pakistan Suspends Anti-Polio Drive In Two Tribal Districts
A health worker administers polio vaccine to a child in a neighborhood of Peshawar, Pakistan.