Anti-polio drive from today in Balochistan

Coordinator of Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Balochistan, Zahid Shah said that the five-day anti-polio campaign would start from Monday in 426 union councils of 19 districts of the province.

He expressed these views in his statement issued here on Sunday said that during the five-day anti-polio campaign over 1.7 million children up to five years of age would be administered polio drops in the districts. “Around 6,820 teams would be assigned to administer polio drops to children during the campaign,” he mentioned.

He further said that foolproof security will be provided to all the staff during the campaign on which Balochistan Levies, Police and FC would be deployed in order to control any untoward situation during drive.

He said no case of polio has been reported in Balochistan since January 2021, there was no polio virus in the environment of the province since April 2021, the presence of polio virus in the districts of other provinces of the country and in Afghanistan was a challenge for the Balochistan.

He urged all the parents to fully cooperate with the polio workers during the campaign to prevent polio diseases to give their children polio vaccine, adding this disease could be controlled by collective efforts and cooperation in Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2022.