PESHAWAR: Over 4 million children will be vaccinated against polio in the last anti-polio campaign of the year starting from December 18, 2017, in 17 districts of the province.
To review the arrangements for the upcoming national immunisation days, a meeting was held on Friday at Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
EOC Coordinator Atif Rehman chaired the meeting while Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) Director Dr Akram Shah, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Technical Focal Person Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, UNICEF teams lead Dr Joahar and World Health Organisation (WHO) team lead Dr Abdi Nasir were also present on the occasion.
The EOC coordinator was informed about the preparatory status of the campaign which will be conducted in 17 districts of the province with a target of 4.386 million children. The targeted districts are Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, DI Khan, Tank, Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Malakand, Chitral, Dir Lower, Dir Upper and Afghan Refugees Camp.
The meeting was informed that 13,704 total teams were constituted for the campaign out of which 11,690 were mobile, 1,074 were fixed teams, 732 were transit teams while 208 were roaming teams. 3,027 area incharges would monitor and ensure the quality of the campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, Atif Rehman said that every effort should be made by the frontline workers and by the technical staff to ensure best quality of the campaign.
He said that it was the last campaign of the year and a good opportunity to flush out the virus, emphasizing on the need to vaccinate those children who had not been vaccinated yet.
Atif Rehman added that this was a low transmission season and urged the frontline workers to plug the remaining gaps and challenges.
He thanked health and other departments for extending their all-out supports to the national cause and expressed high hopes that with this final push the campaign would reach the finish line.
It is worth mentioning that so far, one case of polio from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two from Sindh, two from Balochistan, one from Punjab and one from Gilgit Baltistan have been reported.