Published on May 8, 2014
PROVIDED BY CNNNEXT.COM
Pakistani health officials are in an emergency huddle to discuss plans on how to eradicate polio virus from the country.
Authorities are devising new strategies in the wake of international travel restrictions recently imposed on Pakistan by the World Health Organization due to rising number of polio cases in the country.
According to the public health arm of the United Nations, Pakistani citizens will not be allowed to travel abroad without the document certifying that they have been vaccinated for the virus.
Despite reservations, the government has decided to implement the WHO's restrictions and would set up special centers at all airports to issue health certificates to citizens traveling abroad.
Pakistan is one of only three countries where the polio virus remains endemic.
The world Health Organization has confirmed that 59 new cases of polio have been reported in the country, this year alone.
Majority of these cases have been reported from the country's tribal areas where the military is fighting pro-Taliban militants.
