Islamabad, Sep 28 (IANS) Three new polio cases have been reported in Pakistan, raising the total number of such cases to 174.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has said the cases were registered from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan, Dawn online reported Sunday.

“The parents from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan did not allow health teams to vaccinate their children,” an NIH official said.

“But the child from FATA was not vaccinated because no polio eradication campaign has been carried out in the area since June 2012 owing to a ban imposed by the Taliban,” the official said.

According to officials, every year the count of polio cases is increasing.

Fifty-eight cases were reported in 2012 and 93 in 2013.

Pakistan stands at the top of the last three polio endemic countries in the world – the other two being Nigeria and Afghanistan.