Clerics on Wednesday announced to cooperate with the government and health staff in eradicating polio from Lower Dir.
The announcement was made during a press conference organised by the National Research & Development Foundation (NRDF) and UNICEF at Timergara Press Club. Lower Dir Health EDO Dr Shaukat Ali and others spoke on the occasion. They said that rest of the world had overcome polio due to preventive measures but Pakistan had not been successful to make it polio free because it had been facing many challenges such as people’s ignorance, militancy and negative propaganda against anti-polio vaccines.
They said that 189 polio cases had been detected in Pakistan until now. The speakers said that Pakistan was determined to become polio free by end of 2012. “If Pakistan did not overcome polio by the end of this year, it could face economical sanctions and problems pertaining to travel abroad,” Dr Shaukat said, adding that clerics and seminaries students should play their active role to create mass awareness against the disease.
He said that Lower Dir had been polio free since 1996, as no new case had been detected. Shaukat said that the detection of new cases in Upper Dir and adjacent Tribal Areas were alarming.
Clerics to cooperate in polio eradication
