Anti-polio drive to start in Shangla, Kohistan today

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) will launch a three-day special anti-polio campaign in Shangla and Kohistan districts under strict security, officials said on Sunday.

A poliovirus case was detected in the Kohistan district a few weeks ago.

The campaign, according to the EOC officials, would begin on Monday (today) and will last till Wednesday.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s EOC Coordinator Muhammad Akbar Khan said that 150,883 children below the age of five will be inoculated.

He said as many as 586 teams had been formed, including 503 mobile, 59 fixed, 21 transit and three roaming teams. The drive, he said, would be supervised by 134 area in-charges. A coordinated strategy was chalked out by the provincial health department and partner organisations, including UNICEF, WHO and BMGF.

Officials said that strict security arrangement had been made to make the campaign successful in both districts. All vaccination teams, they said, would be escorted by a police contingent.

The decision to carry out a special campaign was taken after a nine-month-old girl, was found to be infected by the polio virus.

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