No Any Polio Case Detected In AJK Since Year Of 2000 Following Frequent Anti-polio Campaign

No any polio case has been detected in Azad Jammu and Kashmir since the year of 2000 following the frequent extensive nation-wide campaign launched against polio in the state

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2019 ) : Jan 21 (APP):"No any polio case has been detected in Azad Jammu and Kashmir since the year of 2000 following the frequent extensive nation-wide campaign launched against polio in the state.

This was disclosed by an AJK State Health Department spokesperson on the eve of the national-four day anti-polio drive started in this district besides four other AJK districts on Monday.

A total of 73551 children under five years of age have been targeted to be administered anti-polio vaccine during the 4-day nation-wide campaign in expatriates Mirpur district, launched in 5 out of 10 AJK districts.

Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Sardar Adnan Khursheed inaugurated the campaign in district by administering the anti-polio drops to the children under 5-years of age at a special ceremony hosted in local District Health Office.

A large number of parents were seen at the inaugural ceremony carrying their kids up to 5 years of age for getting immunized with the anti-polio vaccine.

Talking to APP here Monday, the spokesperson revealed that no case of polio diseases has emerged any where in Azad Jammu & Kashmir since last ten year.

He pointed out on this occasion that a total of 24 million children up to five years of age are stated to be immunized during the 4-day country-wide anti-polio campaign.

He said that it has been decided to declare 2019 as the polio-free year through launching an effective anti-polio drive by overcoming the disease across Pakistan including AJK.

The spokesman said that Mirpur district is comprising the total population of 4,38,319 persons which included over 73,551 children of under five years of age.

"The district has been divided into four zones with the induction of the one supervisor in each zone to implement the drive", he said adding that one Ward In charge will supervise the campaign in the determined area falling in each Union Council in the district.

A total of 46 Union Councils / Ward In-charges will look after the campaign in all 20 union councils in the district.

Elaborating the district-wise anti-polio drive, the DHO spokesman further said that a total of 180 mobile teams of paramedical staff involving about 400 para-medical workers have been constituted and 38 fixed centers have been set up in the district to immunize the children with the anti-polio vaccine.

The mobile teams, he said, will visit door to door to administer anti-polio drops to children under five years of age. Besides, 17 transit points have also been carved out in various parts of Mirpur district to feed the traveling children with the anti-polio vaccine during the campaign.

A total of four thousand vials of the anti-polio vaccine have been managed for the vaccination during the campaign, he added.

He said that Catch up teams will remain alert to administer the polio drops on the fourth and fifth days even after the conclusion of the three-day drive across the district.

He strongly suggested that there was earnest need of accountability and commitment to this global cause for achieving the target for complete eradication of this fatal disease.

The spokesperson advised the parents to cooperate the visiting mobile paramedic teams to make the national anti-polio campaign complete success. He pointed out that no any case of polio disease to any child was reported in AJK during about last one decade. He said that the services of the doctors and para-medical staff to make the anti-polio campaign a complete success all the time were highly commendable.

Similar arrangements have also been made in Kotli and Bhimbher districts of Mirpur division for the immunization of children up to five years of age with the anti-polio vaccine.

APP / AHR.