Immunisation efforts: Balochistan anti-polio drive kicks off today

This year up to six polio cases have been confirmed

QUETTA: A three-day polio vaccination campaign will begin on Monday (today) in Balochistan, aiming to target about 238,310 children under the age of five in 30 districts of the violence-hit province.

Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Balochistan provincial coordinator Dr Saifur Rehman announced the latest immunisation drive at a news conference on Sunday. Dr Aftab Kakar of N-STOP, Dr Nasir Abdi of WHO and Dr Ashraf from Unicef were also present at the media talk.

During the campaign, 6,661 mobile teams, 820 fixed-site facilitation points and 334 transit points would perform the duties of administering polio vaccine drops to children.



Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio is still endemic. This year, six cases of polio have been confirmed in Pakistan with one among them from Quetta.

Rehman said a meeting was recently held with Afghan authorities with both countries agreeing to enhance polio immunisation in a coordinated way in the border towns across the province.

An independent organisation, he said, had confirmed the effectiveness of the campaigns and its results have also showed 90% accuracy.

Security forces have been engaged for the latest exercise to avert any untoward incidents. Balochistan Levies and police personnel would accompany the polio teams to ensure security while the Frontier Corps would also assist the campaigners in bordering towns.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2016.