PESHAWAR: The three-day anti-polio drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province kicked off on Monday amid tight security in 13 high-risk districts of the province, as over 3.65 million children will be inoculated during the October campaign.
The ongoing campaign would be conducted in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Swat, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.
Peshawar Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Coordinator Atif Rehman, while chairing the preparatory meeting in this regard here at his office, directed all the district health officers concerned and district polio control rooms (DPCRs) to ensure quality campaigns in their respective districts so that every child would be vaccinated during the campaign.
He appreciated the efforts of the officials concerned in helping decrease polio cases in the province, saying that although the province had reported only a single polio case in the ongoing year, yet the objective was to achieve complete eradication of the crippling disease.
Atif Rehman underscored the need for coordinated efforts and close liaison among all the line departments, saying that success in polio eradication was not possible without collective efforts.
He hoped that law enforcing agencies would play a key role in ensuring safety of the polio teams in a peaceful and conducive environment, so that they could continue working for the national cause without any fear or threat.
Earlier, the EOC coordinator was briefed that a total of 12,547 teams were constituted to reach out to the target children, out of which 10,918 were mobile teams, 848 fixed teams, 609 transit and 172 roaming teams. He was informed that 2,888 area supervisors were monitoring teams with a view to keep check and ensure that no child was missed.
Moreover, the coordinator was informed that 22 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Afghan refugee camps were also included in the micro plan and all children there would be administered the polio vaccine.
United Nations Children’s Fund Team Leader Dr Joahar, World Health Organisation Team Leader Dr Abdi Nasir, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Technical Focal Person Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, National Expanded Programme on Immunisation Director Dr Akram Shah, and communications and operations experts were also present on the occasion.