Committees to manage vaccination drive

PESHAWAR: As the government looks to launch an inoculation campaign against measles, the provincial health department is looking to set up committees at the provincial, district and union council level to oversee and manage the drive.

Directions in this regard have been issued by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Secretary Abid Majeed while chairing a high-level meeting at the health secretariat recently to review preparations for the upcoming measles campaign in the province.



The meeting had been attended by Health Services Director General Dr Ayub Rose, EPI Director Dr Akram Shah, EPI Deputy Director Dr Taimur Shah, Acting EOC Coordinator Atif Rehman, BMGF Technical Focal Person Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, EPI former director Dr Hameed Afridi, WHO Team Lead Dr Abdi Nasir, Provincial N Stop Dr Ijaz Shah, UNICEF and relevant staff of the health and LHW programme was also present on the occasion.



Majeed stressed on the need for effective communication and social mobilisation activities prior to the launch of the healthcare intervention in the province with a view to raise parents’ awareness about the disease and create demand for vaccination.

He also emphasised on the need for training staff, assuring the availability of logistics, vaccines and referral systems for children so that robust and effective systems were in place in case of any adverse effects following immunization (AEFI).

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2018.