Three-tier activities: Plans afoot to make FATA, K-P polio-free by next year

PESHAWAR: A composite plan to eradicate polio from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Fata has been drafted with a commitment to make both the province and the violence-hit tribal area free of polio by the end of 2011. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani was given a detailed presentation on the proposed plan here at the Governor’s House on Monday.

The Governor appreciated the initiatives but also stressed the need for their effective implementation, saying that the plan envisaged a solid foundation for polio eradication and would help the government in overcoming the problem.

He said that the involvement of communities and their active participation in the polio eradication campaign was a key to success.

The provincial health secretary Munir Azam and Secretary, Fata, Abid Majid gave the presentation with regard to the proposed initiatives in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, respectively.

The meeting was informed that 88 polio cases were reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including 64 in Fata during the year 2010.

They explained the salient features of the plan besides the implementation strategy and the proposed actions in this regard.

The meeting was informed that three-tier activities were the basis of the plan including provincial, district, agency union council and area levels activities.

Regarding major features of the plan it was stated that the goal was to eradicate polio from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata by December 2011.

To achieve the goal, coordination among stakeholders would be improved and they would be actively engaged in the whole process. Effective engagement of the community will be ensured besides evolving a new mechanism for fixing the responsibility and ensuring accountability.

Under the plan emphasis would be laid on the activities at union council level where a focal person will be nominated and pre-campaign meetings with community leaders for identification of appropriate polio team members and verification and endorsement of area maps and number of target population will be held. Supporting social mobilisation activities will be carried out besides effective monitoring of polio teams during the campaign.

Commissioner, District Coordination Officers (DCOs) and political agents have been assigned an active and effective role.

As regards Fata, the plan would contain agency-specific initiatives and strategies, high risk population strategy and agency level activities including strengthening of monitoring and supervision mechanism and post-campaign progress evaluation.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2010.