Polio eradication: 4.9 million children in K-P to be vaccinated

The three-day anti-polio drive will begin on October 24.


Express October 23, 2011

PESHAWAR:


As many as 4.9 million children in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and 900,000 children in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will be given anti-polio drops during the  upcoming the National Immunisation Campaign (NIC).


This was stated by Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Director Dr Janbaz Afridi during the NIC inauguration ceremony on Saturday.

Renowned squash player Jansher Khan inaugurated the campaign, which
will officially begin on October 24 and continue for three days.

Khan said there is a strong need to eliminate the crippling disease once and for all, for which joint efforts are needed.

The EPI coordinator explained that over 700,000 children in Peshawar would be given oral polio vaccines during the campaign in which 366 area in-charges would take part.

He also said that Peshawar has been split into four zones for efficient administration, adding that the drive would take place in 67 out of 92 union councils in the target regions.

Dr Abdul Jameel, a health and nutrition specialist at Unicef, said the health department alone cannot eliminate the disease, adding that Unicef will continue to cooperate with Pakistan for this cause.

The speakers went on to say that the drive would be postponed in those areas where lady health workers refused to perform their duties due to their protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2011.

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