Jirga pledges support to anti-polio drive in Punjab

LAHORE:Heads of nine key Punjab priority community organisations have pledged every support to eradicate polio from Punjab, assuring that the cooperation will be expanded from mega cities to all districts of Punjab.

The pledge was given at a jirga organised here on Thursday. Over 30 representatives of key priority community organisations participated in the jirga which included Pakhtun Falahi Tanzeem, Mohmand Loya Jirga, Afghan Refugees Aman Committee, Khattak Welfare Association, Marwat Welfare Association, Bajaur Ittehad, Hazara Welfare Organisation, Minzal Welfare Organisation and Pakhtun Qabail Movement. The session was chaired by the head of the polio programme in Punjab and Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khizer Afzaal.

During the jirga, the organisations recalled initiatives launched in Punjab to eradicate polio including awareness brandings, blood donations, provision of volunteers for duties at transit points and polio workers for priority teams. All the representatives and heads of the organisations unanimously agreed to support polio eradication activities and help the polio teams in their neighbourhoods so that ‘all children are vaccinated’.

They pledged to expand the cooperation to all over Punjab instead of just mega cities including Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. During his address to the priority community elders and heads of organisations, Punjab EOC Coordinator Afzaal acknowledged the support provided by the priority community in dealing with community reluctance and provision of human resource in priority community neighborhoods.

“Community reluctance has declined with your support. The human resource provided by the priority community in terms of provision of teams visiting households and vaccinating children is also bearing fruits. Years back, thousands of children missed vaccination due to community reluctance.

But with your support, Punjab has been able to overcome that, which is commendable”, acknowledged the EOC Coordinator. However, he urged the organisation heads to expand the cooperation to other mega cities, help programme identify more language polio workers and provide more human resource for inclusion in polio teams. Afzaal shared observations given by the delegates of Polio Oversight Board, saying the international community had special interest in eradication of polio from Pakistan.

“As long as polio is endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, no country and no child on the globe is safe from polio. So the international community is genuinely concerned about risk of polio spread in Pakistan,” reminded the Punjab polio programme head.

Afzaal recalled that Punjab was polio free for the last three years, but virus continued to be isolated from key cities which indicated that all cities of Punjab were at risk of polio virus importation. He recounted the challenges faced by Punjab, saying the province was at risk due to movement of population from all over the country.

He urged the participants to improve coordination with authorities in their respective areas, highlighting need to alert local health department about arrival of new communities from other parts of the country.

The EOC coordinator highlighted government’s focus on routine immunisation, calling upon community elders to make sure that all children are vaccinated timely against other vaccine preventable diseases as well.