Last anti-polio drive before Ramazan break inaugurated

Five-day campaign to target 2.3 million under-fives
in all six districts and 188 union councils of city

Aseefa Bhutto Zardari opened a five-day polio vaccination campaign at the Shah Faisal Colony health centre on Tuesday. She administered oral polio vaccine drops to children and distributed gifts among them.

“We must give the campaign top priority,” said the Rotary ambassador for polio after the inauguration. “I appeal to parents to come forward and get their children vaccinated. There have been major improvements in the polio programme, but we must not rest until we eradicate polio completely.”

Aseefa also spoke with mothers at the health facility and asked them about the problems they faced in their communities. She committed to helping them resolve their issues, such as lack of sanitation facilities and potable water. For this she requested the Korangi deputy commissioner to look into the matter and address it at the earliest.

As many as 2.3 million children under the age of five would be vaccinated during the campaign in all six districts and 188 union councils of the city. There will be approximately 13,000 teams with 5,000 police officials for providing security cover. It is the last polio drive before the Ramazan break.

From hundreds of cases of the crippling disease to only two so far this year, Pakistan has come a long way in polio eradication since the 1990s. Of the two cases this year, none of them are from Sindh. The last polio case in Karachi was reported in January last year.

Also present on the occasion were Emergency Operation Centre Sindh Technical Coordinator Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Korangi DC Syed Mehdi Ali Shah, Karachi Commissioner’s Focal Person for Polio Dr Nusrat, provincial team leaders from the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Technical Focal Person Dr Ahmed Ali Shaikh, the Sindh Government Hospital medical superintendent and the Korangi district health officer.