EOC Sindh Announces To Launch Anti-polio Campaign From June13

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Jun, 2021 ) :Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for polio in Sindh would launch a province-wide polio campaign from June 7 to June13, as part of the sub national immunization days to give oral polio drops to over 9 million children of under 5-year across the province.

The campaign would be conducted in all 30 districts of Sindh and out of the target of over 9 million children, more than 2 million reside in Karachi, said a spokesperson of EOC Sindh on Sunday.

The campaign would be conducted whilst following strict WHO recommended COVID prevention protocols which include the wearing of masks by workers, their temperatures being checked before deployment, not handling children directly, not entering houses, spending limited time with families and knocking on doors with pens, rulers or elbows rather than hands.

As a result of the pandemic, the gap in campaigns from March to July coupled with routine immunization being affected left an immunity gap in children which we have been addressing through back-to-back monthly polio campaigns since August 2020.

Spokesperson EOC Sindh informed that thanks to these campaigns Sindh has not reported a single case of polio since July 2020 and environment samples were also now showing a negative trend which was good for the programme and the future of the children of Pakistan.

If we continue with the same momentum, we would further see significant results but we must not get complacent and continue the hard work.We understand that communities in the super high risk UCs for polio need other services and we were addressing this through new initiatives. We have opened water filtration plants, experimental dispensaries, model EPI centres, mother and child health facilities among other initiatives.

During the polio campaign this time we would have health camps across super high-risk UCs to cater to the healthcare needs of communities, especially women and children.

While we deal with the pandemic, we must also deal with childhood immunisation to prevent childhood diseases, the benefits of vaccination were clear as frequent campaigns have significantly reduced the burden of polio across the country.

Children could be saved from childhood diseases like polio through vaccination and we seek the media's help to raise awareness regarding this.Efforts in the programme have resulted in around 50% reduction in refusals and missed children but we must bring them down further, especially in Karachi and must raise awareness around the benefits of vaccination.

Pakistan was one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world alongwith Afghanistan and has so far reported a total of 01 polio case in 2021.

The Pakistan Pediatric Association, Pakistan Medical Islamic Medical Association, medical experts across the world, as well as prominent religious scholars in Pakistan, and across the region endorse the oral polio vaccine as the safest and most effective for not only preventing polio but also eradicating it from the environment.

Polio vaccine was the safest and most effective way to save your children from polio, please cooperate with the teams when they come to your doorstep.

Remember polio has no cure but could be easily prevented through vaccination and we were sending workers to your doorsteps so please cooperate with them and help save the future of Pakistan and eradicate polio.