Nationwide anti-polio drive tees off today

Islamabad: The first nationwide door-to-door anti-polio campaign of the 2018-19 low transmission season begins today (Monday) in all districts except Sheikhupura and Orakzai, where it will tee off a day later. The campaign has been synchronized with Afghanistan to ensure effective vaccination of mobile children. The campaign will target 38.6 million children under five years of age; these include 19.22 million children in Punjab, 8.88 million in Sindh, 6.75 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2.5 million in Balochistan, 0.7 million in AJK, 0.237 million in Gilgit-Baltistan and 0.33 million in Islamabad.

During the three-day campaign, Vitamin A supplements will also be given to around 35 million children aged between 6-59 months. From 8 polio cases in 2017, Pakistan has reported four cases so far in 2018 from two districts (3 from Dukki and 1 from Charsadda).