UN condemns deadly attacks on polio workers in Pakistan
(Dec. 19, 2012) The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and two United
Nations agencies have condemned the killing of at least six people working on a polio
vaccination campaign in Pakistan in the past 24 hours. According to reports five Pakistani
women and one man were shot dead in the city of Karachi in Sindh province and in the
city of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistan is one of three countries,
along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic. The UN World
Health Organization, WHO and the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that those killed
were among thousands who work selflessly across Pakistan to eradicate polio. “Such
attacks deprive Pakistan’s most vulnerable populations – especially children – of
basic life-saving health interventions,” they said in a joint statement. “We call
on the leaders of the affected communities and everyone concerned, to do their utmost
to protect health workers and create a secure environment, so that we can meet the
health needs of the children of Pakistan,” the agencies added. At a media briefing
at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, a UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said
that Ban joins WHO and UNICEF in condemning these “senseless and inexcusable” attacks
on health workers. According to the joint statement by the agencies, the Government
of Pakistan and the affected provinces have temporarily suspended the vaccination
campaign, due to concerns over the safety of health workers. Polio is a highly
infectious disease caused by a virus that can cause permanent paralysis in a matter
of hours. Safe and effective vaccines protect children from the disease.