Vaccinate every child missed in past drives

PM’s focal person emphasises vaccinating every child missed in past campaigns across the country

ISLAMABAD: Vaccination drives against polio will continue till the last child is vaccinated.

This was stated by the Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Farooq while addressing the concluding ceremony of the four-day annual review and training meeting of field epidemiology laboratory training programme (FELTP) officers.

She said that polio was a zero sum game and until the ‘zero’ (number of cases) is achieved, they cannot sit idle in the war against polio.

The N-STOP is a collaborative initiative between the Pakistan government, FELTP, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Atlanta. The programme trains and deploys public health officers in polio-critical districts to serve as key technical support people with deputy commissioners.

The review meeting came hot on the heels of a fresh polio case being reported from Chaman, Pakistan. The case is the third one reported in Pakistan this year.

The government is currently preparing to conduct a targeted campaign in vulnerable pockets of 73 districts across the country. N-STOP officers are adding critical value to the Pakistan programme by providing technical support at the district level, Farooq said.

She pledged that the government would do everything to make sure that their work is further facilitated. The focal person further hoped that CDC Atlanta would extend the support to these officers in the future.

She also appreciated the N-STOP leadership for a candid and frank review of Pakistan’s progress against polio with an aim to further improve the immunisation programme.

“Contribution of N-STOP officers in over 80 districts across the country reflects the progress the polio programme has made in drastically bringing down the case count to three and improving the quality of the campaigns,” the senator said.

She called on the officers to help root out the crippling disease from the country by the end of the calendar year.

Farooq also resolved to further improve the routine immunisation programme and the expanded programme on immunisation across the country.

National Coordinator for Pakistan Polio Program Dr Rana Safdar stated that “your [N-STOP officers] role at the district level is very critical and was instrumental in motivating and mobilising the District Polio Control Rooms (DPCRs) in collaboration with concerned DCs.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2017.