Know how Pakistan is going ahead with polio drive despite Taliban threats (watch pics)

New Delhi: Pakistan is the only country in the world where polio is on the rise. Polio cases in Pakistan rose by 37 percent in 2011 and Islamic militants can be blamed for this rise as they have banned the health program in parts of the country they dominate, leaving 350,000 children unvaccinated in one area alone.Islamic militants have attacked health workers and security forces that protect them, killing at least 40 people and injuring dozens more in the past.Islamic militants started hampering polio eradication efforts, when it was revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency employed the services of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi and local health officials who used a vaccination campaign to collect DNA samples of Osama Bin Laden before Operation Neptune Spear.A UN official recently said, the polio virus is spreading from Pakistan to countries that were previously polio free. The official “The largest polio virus reservoir of the world,” is in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.Yet, Pakistan is making a valiant effort to eradicate this virus.Watch pics of polio eradication drive in Pakistan:1. A Pakistani health worker marks the finger of an Afghan refugee child held by her elder sister, after giving her a polio vaccine.2. An Afghan refugee child held by her elder sister receives a polio vaccine from a Pakistani health worker, on the outskirts of Islamabad.3. A Pakistani health worker marks the finger of an Afghan refugee child after giving her a polio vaccine.4. A Pakistani child, whose family was displaced from Pakistan's tribal areas due to fighting between the Taliban and the army, receives a polio vaccine from a health worker.5. A Pakistani health worker, marks a sign on a wall to let others know that the home has been visited by health workers, who have given a polio vaccine to a child living there, in Peshawar, Pakistan.6. A Pakistani police man stands guard as a health worker vaccinates a child against polio, in Peshawar, Pakistan.7. A Pakistani health worker vaccinates a child against polio.8. A Pakistani health worker marks the finger of a child after giving her a polio vaccine.9. An Afghan refugee girl holds her younger sister stands in an area where Pakistani health workers are searching house to house for children that need vaccination against polio.