Countrywide anti-polio campaign kicks off today
The three-day campaign aims to vaccinate millions of children under the age of five.
LAHORE (Dunya News/ Reuters) – Anti-polio campaign has been launched in all the provinces of Pakistan including the tribal areas on Monday.
The three-day campaign aims to vaccinate millions of children under the age of five.
Special camps have been installed on airports, railway stations, bus stands and other public areas including mobile teams, fixed teams and roaming teams whereas strict security arrangements have also been devised.
However; the campaign will continue for seven days in Frontier Region Peshawar, North and South Waziristan.
Polio campaign in Karachi was inaugurated by Commissioner Karachi Asif Haider Shah. Atleast 2.2 million children will be inoculated polio drops in 188 Union Councils of six districts for which more than 6000 volunteers are taking part in the security of Rangers and police.
While talking to media Commissioner Karachi appealed to the parents to get their children vaccinated. He said that action has been taken against those schools which did not cooperated in the previous campaign.
He informed that a letter has been sent to the health department directing schools administration to inoculate the drops to the children.
Parents should themselves contact the helpline to make the campaign successful, he added.
In Punjab, the three-day drive aims to vaccinate 100,80,000 children in 3550 UCs with the help of polio teams who would go door to door to protect children from the crippling disease.
The campaign in Quetta will target a population of 3,58,915 through 800 teams and will be protected by police and Balochistan Constabulary whereas Frontier Corps (FC) will remain stand by.
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.
