Three-day anti-polio drive begins in 16 K-P districts

PESHAWAR: The provincial government on Monday launched a three-day anti-polio drive in at least 16 districts of the province.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Emergency Operation Center Coordinator Abdul Basit said that the drive is being conducted in Peshawar, Buner, Hangu, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Khyber, Bajaur, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan districts.

Basit added that they aim to vaccinate over three million children in these areas. He further said that strict security measures have been put in place for the immunization teams. Moreover, at least 12,081 teams of trained anti-polio workers have been constituted, including 10,485 mobile teams, 871 regular, 619 transit and 106 roaming teams.

To effectively monitor the performance of teams, as many as 3,585 area in-charges have also been deployed.

The polio coordinator said that 12 cases of poliovirus have so far been detected in the province during the ongoing year.

Polio drive in Waziristan

The anti-polio drive could not commence in Wana tehsil of South Waziristan district on Monday after opposition from a local jirga.

The jirga members linked the drive with the government’s initiative for resolving a land dispute between two local tribes. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2020.