Combat continues: 2nd round of Sehat Ka Ittehad concludes

PESHAWAR: A three-day Short Interval Additional Dose (SIAD) campaign carried out under the banner of Sehat ka Ittehad concluded on Wednesday. The drive was held to immunise children against nine different diseases in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Sehat ka Ittehad is a joint venture of the provincial and federal governments who have agreed upon a strategy to immunise children from diptheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, pertussis, polio, meningitis, hepatitis B, influenza and measles. This is the second round of Sehat ka Ittehad campaign and started on Monday. Over 2.77 million children were vaccinated across 21 districts of K-P, North and South Waziristan agencies and Frontier Regions Peshawar and Kohat. Around 7,221 mobile, 761 fixed and 277 transit polio teams were formed to administer the drops. On Monday, police arrested 471 parents under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order for refusing to administer vaccines to their children.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2015.