PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, World Polio Day (WPD) was observed on Monday in all districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including the provincial metropolis with renewed commitment and call for rigorous efforts at all levels to eradicate poliovirus from the country and protect children from the vaccine-preventable diseases.
According to a handout, the resolve for polio eradication was made here at the Civil Secretariat where Chief Secretary Shehzad Bangash, Secretary Health Amer Tareen and Additional Secretary Health (Polio) Asif Rahim administered polio drops to the children to kick off the campaign for the October round.
The theme for World Polio Day 2022 was “Healthier Future for Mother and Children”.Provincial Head of UNICEF, Dr Andrew Etsano, WHO Team Lead, Dr Gedi, National Team Lead N -Stop, Brig (r) Kamal Soomro, Provincial Team Lead N Stop, Dr Hafizullah Khan and other officials of various departments were also present on the occasion.
The inauguration was followed by meeting of the Provincial Task Force (PTF) for polio eradication to review the performance of all the districts for the August NIDs and to assess preparations for the October campaign.
Chief Secretary Shehzad Bangash, while chairing the task force meeting, appreciated the efforts of provincial EOC, district teams and law enforcement agencies, saying that the efforts for polio eradication are in the right direction hoping that the region would soon be purged of the menace.
He said that reporting of fake finger marking and refusals was good for the course correction as unless the issue was reported, it could not be resolved. He appreciated holding health camps and intensified outreach activities during floods, saying that these are good initiatives that helped to improve routine immunization status and coverage of missed children.
Briefing the forum about the upcoming Sub-National Immunization Drive (SNIDs), Additional Secretary Health (Polio) & Coordinator EOC said that the campaign was planned in 28 districts of the province wherein over 4.38 million children would be immunized against polio while in four districts of DI Khan, Tank, South Waziristan and Lakki Marwat, fractional Inactivated Polio Vaccination (fIPV) campaign would be carried out along with Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) drive.
Asif Raheem said that the October campaign will be carried out in 17 complete districts including Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, DI Khan, Tank, South Waziristan, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Orakzai, Peshawar, Khyber, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mohmand, Swat, Bajaur while the partial campaign will be conducted in selected union councils of 11 districts including Buner, Chitral Upper & Lower, Dir Upper & Lower, Haripur, Kurram, Malakand, Manshera, Mardan and Swabi.
A total of 15212 teams have been constituted to vaccinate the children in the October campaign, out of which 13374 are mobile teams, 1101 fix and 737 Transit teams while 3214 area in-charge have been deployed to ensure the quality of the campaign, he informed.
Earlier, talking to media on the occasion, the secretary health said the provincial government was determined for stamping out poliovirus from the country and the only way to achieve the target is to ensure the vaccination of all eligible children in every campaign.
He urged all parents to allow polio teams to administer polio drops to their children, saying that together with the frontline workers and community’s support, the target of making a safer, healthier and polio-free Pakistan could be achieved for the coming generations.