Health officials review arrangements for anti-polio campaigm

PESHAWAR: More than four million children will be vaccinated against polio in the last anti-polio campaign of the year in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, starting from Monday.

To review the arrangements for the upcoming National Immunisation Days (NID), a meeting was held here at the Emergency Operations Centre, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Coordinator EOC Atif Rehman chaired the meeting while Director EPI Dr Akram Shah, Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, Team Lead UNICEF Dr Johar and Team Lead WHO Dr Abdi Nasir were in attendance.

The meeting informed the chair about the preparations for the drive.

The campaign will be carried out in Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Malakand, Chitral, Lower and Upper Dir and camps for Afghan refugees.

The meeting was informed that 13,704 teams comprising 11,690 mobile, 1074 fixed, 732 transit and 208 roaming teams have been formed for the campaign. It was also shared that 3,027 area heads have been appointed to monitor and ensure the quality of the drive.

Atif Rehman said that every effort should be made by the frontline workers and technical staff to ensure best quality campaign.

He said it was the final campaign of this year and was a good opportunity to eradicate the virus, with special focus on the missed children.

Atif Rehman added that this was the low transmission season and urged the frontline workers to plug the remaining gaps and challenges.

He thanked health and all the line departments for extending all-out support to the national cause, saying that a last push was required to achieve the target of polio-free KP.

One case has been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each from Sindh

and Balochistan and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan in 2017.