KARACHI: Around 22,000 Pakistani children are at risk in Karachi after the World Health Organization suspended polio vaccinations over a spate of bloody shootings, a UN official warned yesterday.
WHO, a partner in government efforts to eradicate the disease, suspended activities in part of Pakistan's largest city last month and has not yet been approved to take part in the next campaign due in September.
On July 17, a UN doctor from Ghana working on polio eradication and his driver were shot in Gadap town and three days later a local community worker who was part of the same campaign was shot dead in the same area.
"We had a successful campaign in Karachi until those attacks," said Elias Durry, senior WHO coordinator for polio vaccination in southern Sindh province.
The campaign targeted 2.2 million children in Karachi, but 22,000 children in Gadap town were not administered polio drops because of security fears, he added.
"We fear the children of Gadap could be in danger of polio if we cannot go to them during our next campaign in September," Durry said.
Maryam Yunus, WHO spokeswoman in Pakistan, said activities would remain suspended in the area until police gave the go-ahead.
Police said they were still investigating the July shootings.
"We are investigating the incidents and trying to ensure fail-safe security for health workers in the future," said Mohammad Sultan, a local police official.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries where polio remains endemic.
But Mazhar Nisar, health education advisor at the prime minister's polio monitoring cell, told AFP that the number of cases was in decline.
"Pakistan is no longer the country with the highest number of polio cases. It was for the past two years consecutively. Now Nigeria is the country with the highest number of polio cases," he said.
He said that 27 polio cases had been reported so far this year, compared to 71 for the same period last year and 198 for the whole of 2011.
"But there is no reason for complacency and we have to work harder to achieve the goal of a polio-free Pakistan," he said.
In Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas, health officials said 240,000 children were also at risk after Pakistani Taleban banned vaccinations in protest at US drone strikes.
UN polio suspension hits Pakistani children
UN polio suspension hits Pakistani children
India marks ‘significant stride’ in space sector with launch of its heaviest satellite
- Wednesday’s mission also marks India’s 100th orbital launch
- India plans to launch its first human space mission in 2027
NEW DELHI: India launched its heaviest communication satellite on Wednesday, marking the latest feat in the country’s efforts to establish itself in the global space industry.
The Indian Space Research Organization launched a LVM-3 rocket carrying the BlueBird Block-2 satellite, which weighs over 6 tonnes, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota island off the Bay of Bengal at 8:55 a.m. local time.
Codenamed LVM3-M6, the mission was the ISRO’s 100th orbital launch and involved deploying the US-built satellite in low Earth orbit.
“A significant stride in India’s space sector,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X soon after the mission was declared successful by the ISRO.
“It strengthens India’s heavy-lift launch capability and reinforces our growing role in the global commercial launch market.”
The BlueBird Block-2 satellite was the “heaviest payload ever launched” from Indian soil, breaking a record set by the ISRO only last month, when it launched the CMS-03 communication satellite, which weighs about 4.4 tonnes.
“The successful LVM3-M6 launch of ISRO’s heaviest commercial payload to date marks a quantum leap in India’s launch capabilities, pushing the boundaries of LVM3’s performance in low Earth orbit,” Lt. Gen. (Retd) A. K. Bhatt, director-general of the Indian Space Association, said in a statement.
The mission exemplified the Indian space agency’s capability to handle “heavier payloads that cater to the global demand for advanced satellite constellations,” he added.
Under Modi, India has been making breakthroughs in the space industry.
For the past few years, the government has been creating the environment and long-term investment for the industry to flourish and involve the private sector. The ISRO has achieved significant milestones to add to India’s status as an emerging space superpower.
The achievements include a successful space docking mission in January. And the ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 moon rover making history in 2023 by landing on the lunar surface. This made India the first country to land near the lunar south pole and the fourth to land on the moon — after the US, Soviet Union and China.
The ISRO is planning to use a modified version of the LVM-3 rocket for its future space missions, including India’s first human spaceflight program, the Gaganyaan mission, in 2027.
Its long-term space ambitions include building a modular space facility, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, by 2035, and sending the first Indian to the moon by 2040.
