Over 73000 Children To Be Immunized Anti-polio Vaccine In Mirpur

MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Apr, 2018 ) , April 8 (APP)::As many as 73551 children under five years of age would be administered anti-polio vaccine during the four-day nation-wide campaign in Mirpur district to be launched across AJK from Monday � April 9.

The campaign to be commenced across AJK by the State Health Department with the collaboration of the World Health Organization (WHO), disclosed a spokesperson of the District Health Office, while unveiling the schedule of immunization campaign against polio here on Sunday.

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 three-day country-wide anti-polio campaign The spokesman said that Mirpur district is comprising the total population of 4,38,319 persons which included over 73551 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 Incharges 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.

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 Azad Jammu Kashmir during 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. It may be recalled that the process of the frequent nationwide anti-polio campaign across the country including AJK was formally launched first in 1994 where at least 1800 cases of polio were detected and as a result of the continued successful campaign against this disease, these polio cases were reduced to 27 in the year of 2005.

No any polio case has been detected in AJK since the year of 2000 following the frequent extensive nation-wide campaign against polio, he added. APP/ahr