Positive polio sample triggers alert

RAWALPINDI:

A poliovirus environmental sample collected from Safdarabad has tested positive after three consecutive months of negative results, with health authorities attributing the detection to the movement of a family that recently arrived from Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.

The District Health Authority (DHA) confirmed the positive environmental sample and has finalised arrangements for a four-day anti-polio campaign, scheduled to run from August 10 to 13.

According to official sources, environmental samples collected from Sarai Kala and Dhok Dalal during the same surveillance period tested negative. However, the positive sample from Safdarabad has prompted health officials to intensify monitoring and vaccination efforts in the area.

Sources said Rawalpindi has a high-risk mobile population of around 122,000 people, with regular movement between the district and Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and other parts of the country.

Consequently, the forthcoming vaccination campaign will focus on localities that receive large numbers of people arriving from outside the district.

Meanwhile, the DHA has begun training Union Council Medical Officers (UCMOs), area supervisors and frontline health workers ahead of the campaign across Rawalpindi city, Rawalpindi Cantonment, Potohar Town, Taxila and the federal capital, Islamabad.

District Health Officer (Preventive Services) Dr Hafiz Jawad Zahid said all preparations for the campaign were being completed and would be finalised before August 10.