Polio: Four-day drive concludes in K-P

Officials say K-P govt on target to immunise over 5 million children

PESHAWAR:

A four-day drive to administer oral polio vaccines to children up to five years of age will draw to a close across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday (today).

The campaign was launched in 24 districts across the province with the exception of Peshawar which was covered on Sunday. Some union councils of Peshawar district were even covered ahead of schedule on Saturday due to security concerns. Officials said the health department was informed that certain union councils of Peshawar were sensitive in terms of security and thus the decision was taken of holding the campaign ahead of schedule.



They said the department was on course to achieve its target of administering polio drops to over 5.35 million children in 25 districts across the province. The officials added a total of 19,596 teams were formed to administer the vaccine in K-P.

An official of the immunisation programme said strict security measures were taken before the drive in Peshawar district. It kicked off after the administration imposed a ban on motorbike riding during campaign hours.

On Sunday, the teams immunised 750,000 children in 97 union councils across the district.

With the confirmation of six new children whose samples were sent last year, the total number of polio cases in the country reached 303 for 2014, breaking a 16-year-old record of 300 cases reported in 1998.

Health officials said the total number of cases reported from the tribal areas hit 177, while 69 children tested positive for the crippling disease in K-P. There were four cases in Punjab, 23 in Balochistan and 30 in Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2015.