Pak-Afghan officials meeting on polio held in Chaman

QUETTA: The Afghan and Pakistan officials have decided to improve the strategy in upcoming anti-polio drives to reach the missing areas in Pak-Afghan border and ensure that every child crossing is vaccinated.
A delegation led by Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Balochistan Dr. Syed Saif Ur Rehman met Afghan officials polio teams in Chaman Town led by Azullah Kakar from Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan.
The officials reviewed the devised strategy for bordering areas during the anti-polio drive. Commissioner Quetta Kambar Dashti, Deputy Commissioner Killa Abdullah Khuda-e-Dad, N-Stop Officer Dr. Aftab Kakar, Afghan officials Dr. Mohammed Essa, Dr. Sadaat and, UNICEF and WHO teams attended the meeting. The meeting thoroughly discussed the recent anti-polio drive at bordering areas and villages.
The meeting was informed that over 14,000 people daily cross the gate with an average of 900 children below the age of 5 years.“The average children covered daily by the medical teams are around 600, which means we miss almost 300 children below 5 years daily,” the officials informed the meeting.
The officials of either side of the border vowed to improve the coordination and increase the number of teams in order to ensure that every child in the bordering areas is vaccinated anti-polio drive.
It was noted that Southern Afghanistan and Balochistan is considered one epidemiological block where most of the cases were reported in recent years.The officials held a separate meeting with senior officials of Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan in order to seek their help in vaccinating the children who cross the border.