0ver 4.437mln Children To Get Polio Vaccine In March Campaign: EOC KP

:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has planned to launch anti-polio campaign from Monday in 17 high risk districts of the province including Afghan refugees camps wherein 4.437 million children under the age of five.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Mar, 2018 ) :Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has planned to launch anti-polio campaign from Monday in 17 high risk districts of the province including Afghan refugees camps wherein 4.437 million children under the age of five.

A total of 16,002 teams have been constituted for the campaign out of which 1,3953 were mobile teams, 1079 fixed teams, 735 transit and 235 were roaming teams to vaccinate childern under the age of five.

This was decided in a high-level meeting held at Emergency Operations Center Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Coordinator EOC Atif Rehman in the chair, here on Friday. Team Leader UNICEF Dr Johar, Team Lead WHO Dr Abdi Nasir, Team Lead N Stop, Dr Ijaz Ali Shah, Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah and other relevant government and partner staff was in attendance.

Speaking on the occasion, EOC Coordinator Atif Rehman directed to ensure quality campaign in the province and to ensure that no child was left unvaccinated as it will be hazardous for other children.

He urged parents to support teams who were braving many challenges on ground to ensure that two drops of vaccine were administered to every child and that children were protected from lifelong disability.

Earlier, he was informed that the upcoming campaign will be held in 17 high risk districts of the province and Afghan refugees' camps to reach out to the target population of 4.437 million children.

The meeting was informed that campaign will be held in Bannu, Charsadda, Chitral, D.I. Khan, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Hangu, Karak, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Malakand, Mardan, Nowshera, Peshawar, Swabi, Swat and Tank.

It was informed that strict security measures were taken to ensure protection to the teams and more than 26000 police personnel were deployed in the campaign. The country has recorded 8 polio cases in 2017 as compared to 20 cases in 2016 and 306 in 2014. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded one polio case last year as compared to 8 cases in 2016 and 68 in 2014.