Anti-polio drive kickstarts in Sindh, KP, FATA

KARACHI: An anti-polio campaign has commenced from Monday and will continue until November 3 across 21 districts and towns in Sindh.

The districts include Karachi, Dadu, Ghotki, Jaccobabad, Kambar, Kashmore, Larkana, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Badin, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Matiari, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar, SBA, Sajjawal, Thatta and Jamshoro.

The campaign targets 7,127,711 children under the age of five, out of which 1,748,244 will be vaccinated under 162 union councils of Karachi.

Coordinator Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Sindh Fayaz Jatoi lauded the district administrations and town health management teams for concerted efforts towards eradication of polio. However, there is fear that the virus can return anytime, Jatoi observed. He appreciated the fact that there has not been a single polio case reported in Karachi for almost 20 months, however, the goal is to reach zero, he asserted.

Jatoi further said “we must also appreciate the efforts and coordination of the Sindh police that have without fail given us security cover during every single campaign so our workers can carry on with their jobs, during this campaign the police will once again provide more than 5,000 police personnel in Karachi for security cover, patrolling and enabling a safe and secure environment.”

There have been five cases of polio in Pakistan during 2017 which represents a historic low. Out of these 5 cases, only one case was reported in Sindh in Karachi in August 2017. There have no reported cases of polio in Central and Northern Sindh, for more than one and a half year.

Polio campaign in KP, FATA

A three-day campaign to eradicate polio is underway in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

According to EOC spokesman, the target is to administer polio drops to one million children in the FATA.

In 13 districts of KP, the target is to vaccinate 1,355,000 children, informed the spokesman, adding that in 2016, two cases of polio were reported in the South Waziristan.

In 2017, no case of polio has been reported in the FATA, although one case was reported in Lucky Marwat district, stated the spokesman.