Immunisation drive to target 3.65m kids across 13 districts

Three-day exercise will see inoculation teams going to high-risk areas of K-P

PESHAWAR: A three-day anti-polio drive is underway in 13 high risk Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) districts where around 3.65 million children will be vaccinated against poliovirus.

The campaign is being carried out in districts Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Swat, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.

While chairing a meeting at K-P Emergency Operations Centre, EOC Coordinator Atif Rehman directed all concerned district health officers and polio control rooms to ensure quality campaigns in their respective districts so that no child was missed from vaccination.

He appreciated significant decrease in polio cases in the province saying that although the province has reported a poliovirus case, yet the objective was to completely eradicate the virus where at the same time underscored the need for coordinated efforts and close liaison among all the line departments since eradication was not possible without collective efforts.

A total of 12,547 teams were constituted to reach out to the targeted children including 10,918 mobile, 848 fixed, 609 transit and 172 roaming teams. He was informed that 2,888 area in-charges were monitoring teams with a view to keep check and ensure that no child was missed.

At least 22 camps for internally displaced people and Afghan refugees were also included in the plan and would be vaccinated against polio.

The meeting was also attended by Unicef Team Leader Dr Joahar Khan, WHO Team Leader Dr Nasir Abdi, Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, Director EPI Dr Akram Shah besides communications and operations experts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2017.