As many as 3.44 million children under the age of five would be vaccinated against polio as three days anti-polio campaign has been started in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.
Talking to media persons here at Emergency Operation Centre KP, Coordinator EOC Akbar Khan said that successful efforts were being made to eradicate polio and has witnessed a decrease in polio cases in the province as compared to previous years.
However, he hastened on to add that curtailing virus or decrease in polio cases was not the target rather the aim is to deracinate the disease from this region.
Akbar Khan said that three days anti-polio drive has been started in 13 districts of the province including Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, Hangu, Kohat, D.I.Khan, Bannu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Karak and Torgher.
A total of 10,029 teams have been constituted comprising 19,256 vaccinators and 2,101 Area Incharge to reach out to the targeted population, he added.
About the details of the district teams, Akbar Khan informed that 1,976 teams have been constituted in Peshawar, 1,330 teams in Swat, 1,003 Mardan, 954 in D.I.Khan, 937 Nowshera, 770 Charsadda, 602 teams in Lakki Marwat, 586 Bannu, 571 Kohat, 428 in Karak, 336 Hangu 269 teams in Tank and 267 in Tor Gher.
He said that teams have been given special trainings to cope with challenges and successfully achieve targets.
Moreover, he said that special security measures have been taken to ensure security to the teams and smooth running of the campaign.
Akbar Khan urged parents and people from all walks of life to support the cause and help the government in stamping out this disease.