Polio immuniser killed in Pakistan

Australian Medical Association/AusMed

A polio worker has been shot dead in Pakistan amid rising violent conflicts over the vaccination program in the country.

Two female vaccination workers were attacked in the city of Chaman, which borders Afghanistan, as they carried out their work on April 25.

Nasreen Bibi, 35, was killed instantly, while another woman, 24, was critically injured.

At the time of publication the attackers were still at large, and authorities had temporarily shut down the anti-polio program for fear of further violence.

It is the third immunisation related death in a week, following the shooting of two police officers in separate incidents who were guarding vaccinators inoculating children in Pakistan's Buner and Lahore districts.

Vaccination workers have received continued threats from Islamist militants who claim the immunisation push is a foreign scheme to sterilise children in Pakistan.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are only three countries in the world to have failed to eradicate polio.

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