Official stresses polio eradication thru community participation

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretary Heath Mahmood Aslam Wazir said on Friday that every campaign is an opportunity to vaccinate all eligible children and stop virus transmission in the region.

He urged parents and caregivers to ensure that children receive the essential two drops of the life-saving vaccine in every campaign.He reiterated the government’s resolve to eradicate polio from the region through sustained and collective efforts and the support of parents to help interrupt the transmission of the virus and protect children from lifelong crippling.

He said this while inaugurating the November round of anti-polio drive in the province here Friday at Police Services Hospitals. 

Special Secretary Health for Polio Eradication/Coordinator Emergency Operations Center Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Addul Basit, Deputy Coordinator EOC, Zeeshan Khan, representatives of UNICEF, WHO and health department and relevant officials were also present on the occasion.

Wazir said that polio eradication, being a declared national emergency in the country, is the highest priority of the government, and the whole government machinery including administrative officers from top to bottom, health department and law enforcement agencies are all working hands in glove to ensure the complete eradication of this menace.

On the occasion, he appealed to the parents to vaccinate all their under five children in this vaccination campaign and emphasised on all segments of society including medical professionals, religious scholars, civil society and the media to cooperate with the government in the national cause of polio eradication so that the dream of a polio-free Pakistan may come true.

On the occasion, Special Secretary Health (Polio Eradication) Abdul Basit said that all necessary arrangements have been made for the November drive of anti-polio vaccination in the province which is being launched in two phases from November 27 wherein more than 7.4 million children under the age of five will be administered with polio drops.

During the first phase of the five-day campaign, which will formally commence from November 27, vaccine will be administered to more than 6.61 million children under the age of five in district Bannu and all the districts of Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Malakand and Hazara Divisions, he added.

He said that as many as 31,392 teams of trained polio workers have been deployed for the campaign including 27,924 mobile teams, 1,958 fixed teams 1,337 transit teams, 173 roaming team while 6,956 area in-charges have also been appointed for the vigilant supervision of the teams.

Likewise, he added that in order to ensure foolproof security of the polio teams, 53,500 security personnel have been deployed in the target areas. Abdul Basit said that during the second phase starting from the first week of December in selected districts of southern KP, the vaccine will be administered to 0.71 million children in district Lakki Marwat, Tank, D.I Khan, North Waziristan, South Waziristan Upper and Lower.