On a mission: Polio drive to begin in tribal areas

Campaign will cover South Waziristan Agency, FRs DI Khan, Tank.

PESHAWAR: Authorities dealing with polio campaigns in the tribal belt are preparing for a campaign to target areas in Frontier Regions DI Khan, Tank and South Waziristan Agency. This was mentioned in a statement issued from the office of the Emergency Operation Cell (EOC) FATA on Sunday.

EOC FATA’s technical and coordination team, in consultation with the national EOC, decided to launch the six-day case response campaign with additional follow up campaigns, the statement read. It added the decision for DI Khan and adjoining areas was made after polio strains were found in some drains in DG Khan, Punjab as it is close to DI Khan. “This is something important to be dealt with as samples proved negative from different areas in the country. Not a single case has been confirmed in the tribal areas, but we won’t sit idle and will chase the virus until it is up rooted,” a senior health official told The Express Tribune, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

According to officials concerned, some 111 mobile teams, including 29 fixed and 15 transit teams, will be administering polio drops to 129,539 children. This is in addition to 375 community health workers who will join the drive. Supervision and protection will be provided by political agents, the commissioner and law-enforcement agencies.

In 2016, the average percentage of targetted children covered during five campaigns in the low transmission season across the tribal areas was confirmed to be around 99% with less than 1% of refusal cases.

Earlier, during a meeting at his official residence in Peshawar, Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra appreciated efforts to ensure that no polio case surfaced in the tribal areas over the last six months. He emphasised the need to sustain the current momentum and vaccinate every child for ultimate polio eradication.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2016.