Day-long workshop on polio reporting organised

ABBOTTABAD: Emergency Operational Centre (EOC), Fata Secretariat, in collaboration with the Unicef Thursday organised a day-long workshop for the tribal journalists to highlight the importance of polio drops in print and electronic media.

Twenty-eight tribal journalists from Landikoltal, Jamrud and Bara subdivisions of Khyber Agency participated in the training. Geo Television Peshawar bureau chief Mehmood Jan Babar, Dunya Television bureau chief Saifullah Gul and World Health Organisation Fata coordinator Dr Sarfraz Afridi were the resource persons who shared their personal and organisational experiences with the journalists.

Dr Sarfraz Afridi said that Pakistan and Afghanistan were the two countries in the world which were still striving to make their soil polio-free. He said the government was committed to using all ways and means to make Pakistan a polio-free country in the coming years.

Mehmood Jan and Saifullah Gul talked about the methods to positively report about the polio vaccination. They said it was the moral obligation of journalists to highlight the importance of polio vaccine in television channels.

Deputy Director Administration, Fata Secretariat, Dr Muhammad Ishaq, deputy director Expanded Programme Immunisation (EPI) and Additional Director EPI Dr Inayatullah and other officials also attended the workshop.