Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Coordinator Akbar Khan said that a three-day anti-polio campaign will be kicked off on July 25, 2016 to protect the children of eight high-risk districts and 50 camps of IDPs and Afghan refugees against the polio virus.
Addressing a meeting of Emergency Operation Center, Akbar Khan said that during this campaign a total of 19, 94,000 children below five years age will be vaccinated. For this purpose, 4,941 teams have been formed who will be supervised by 972 area supervisors.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is fully committed to eliminate the menace of polio from the province and despite several challenges a considerable decline has been noticed in the polio cases in KP.
He added that it is not our target to curtail the number of cases, but the target is complete elimination of polio from the province. He maintained that the three-day campaign will start on July 25, 2016, whereas eight districts including Peshawar, Bannu, DI Khan, Tank, Karak, Kohat, Hangu, and Lakki Marwat will be the targeted areas. During the campaign 50 IDP camps, camps of Afghan refugees, and 305 high-risk union councils will be accessed to immunise 19,93,971 children.
He said that out of 4,941 teams, 3,986 are mobile teams, 509 fixed teams, 368 transit teams and 78 roaming teams. Giving district-wise detail, Akbar Khan said that 964 teams will work in 148 areas. In Peshawar, the teams will immunise 8,33,000 children. In DI Khan 1,100 teams will be under the supervision of 223 area in-charges to immunise 2, 76,000 children. In district Bannu, 125 area in-charges will supervise 577 teams, who will immunize polio drops to 1, 93,000 children. Similarly in Kohat 137 area in-charges will supervise 626 teams to immunize 1, 95,000 children.
In district Lakki Marwat, 131 area in-charges will supervise 701 teams to immunise 1, 31,000 children. In district Hangu, 390 teams will work under 88 area in-charges to immunise 1, 10,000 children. In district Tank, 118 teams will work under 19 area in-charges to immunise 8,466 children.
He further said that to provide security to polio teams, police will make fool-proof security arrangements in the targeted areas, while international agencies like, WHO, UNICEF, BMGF will utilise their resources to make the campaign successful.
