Pakistan

Afghan refugees: K-P, UNHCR sign deal on immunisation

Rs6.7 billion will be spent on the vaccination drive

Our Correspondent December 10, 2016

An Afghan man holds his children after arriving at a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). PHOTO: REUTERS

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa health department has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) under which the donor agency would help the department in immunising Afghan refugees’ children ‘wherever they are found’.

Oscar Mundia, head of the UNHCR’s sub-office in the provincial capital, said that the agency valued its collaboration with the K-P health department “as together they strive to include healthcare services for all, including Afghan refugee children across the province”.

Pakistan an exemplary host to Afghan refugees, says UNHCR rep

The MoU reads: “The UNHCR under its Refugees Affected and Hosting Areas programme contributed towards the provincial health sector through various projects and supported upgrading health facilities across the province.”

EPI Deputy Director Hameedullah Afridi said Rs6.7 billion will be spent on the vaccination drive, adding “A surveillance system will be established at the district level, besides EPI centres being set up in all districts in the province”.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2016.