Child Health: Anti-measles campaign from Jan 26

LAHORE: The Health Department will launch a 12-day anti-measles campaign in the province from January 26, Health Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik said on Saturday. Chairing a meeting at the Civil Secretariat, Malik said that Rs2 billion would be spent on the campaign. “Around 28 million children between the ages of six months and 10 years will be administered anti-measles shots during the campaign,” he said. Extended Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Director Dr Munir Ahmad said that 4,085 booths would be set-up across the province for the campaign. “We will also form 12,193 mobile teams to administer anti-measles injections to children,” he said. Ahmad said that the government had hired the services of social-mobilisers to raise awareness among parents about measles. “The mobilisers will go door-to-door and ask parents to take their children to the immunisation points,” he said. Health Services Director General Dr Zahid Pervaiz said that the anti-measles vaccines and injections had been purchased. The meeting also discussed the polio situation. Participants of the meeting discussed steps that had been taken for extending polio coverage. The meeting was informed that there had been 296 polio cases during 2014 in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.