Anti-polio campaign kicks off in DI Khan, FATA, Sindh
Ulema and local representatives have also been included in the campaign.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN (Dunya News / Reuters) – Anti-polio campaign has been initiated on Monday in Dera Ismail Khan, Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), Frontier Regions and three cities of Sindh.
During the three-day anti-polio drive in DI Khan, atleast 25,30,000 will be inoculated polio drops in 25 union councils of the district for which 998 teams have been formed.
District Police Officer (DPO) Dera Ismail Khan has said that special security arrangements have been made for the polio teams with 900 policemen deployed on duty.
Moreover, Ulema and local representatives have also been included in the campaign.
On the other hand, four-day anti-polio campaign is also being carried out in most affected areas of Khyber, North and South Waziristan agencies.
About 10,00,000 children upto the age of five years will be administered anti-polio drops.
Tight security arrangements have been made for the polio vaccination teams.
Meanwhile, Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has expressed satisfaction over the last five campaigns and directed to continue with the same spirit for achieving hundred percent result.
The Governor has also decided to give awards to the officers, supervisors and field staff on better performance.
Alongwith this, the polio drive has also been kicked off in Karachi, Hyderabad and Jamshoro.
In Karachi, 24,60,000 children will be administered polio vaccine in six districts.
Commissioner Karachi Asif Haider Shah inaugurated the vaccination drive and stated afterwards that in January atleast 40,000 children were left unvaccinated due to the resistance of the parents however; the number has now decreased to 10,000.
He also ascertained that heavy contingent of police will be positioned for the security of polio workers.
Three polio cases have been surfaced in Sindh in the ongoing year among which one belongs to Guddap.
Polio is a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.
A $5.5 billion global eradication plan was launched in April with the aim of vaccinating 250 million children multiple times each year to stop the virus finding new footholds, and stepping up surveillance in more than 70 countries.
It is now endemic in only two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s polio cases are declining, with just 54 cases of polio virus reported last year, down more than 80 percent from 2014, when the country suffered a large spike in cases.
Efforts to eliminate polio in Pakistan have been complicated in recent years, as polio workers have faced attacks by militants who say the health teams are Western spies, or that the vaccines they administer are intended to sterilise children.
In January, a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people outside a polio eradication centre in the restive western city of Quetta, with two militant groups claiming responsibility.
