12-day measles-rubella drive in south Punjab concludes

MULTAN: The 12-day campaign against the spread of measles-rubella successfully concluded in eleven districts of south Punjab on Monday.

According to officials, personnel of police, Rangers and Pakistan Army provided security cover to vaccination teams during their door-to-door campaign at union council levels. The campaign started from November 15 upto 27 with an additional a catch up day on Monday.

Talking to reporters on the conclusion of the drive, south Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Tanveer Iqbal Tabassam said rubella is a contagious disease caused by a virus and most people who get rubella usually have a mild illness, with symptoms that can include a low-grade fever, sore throat, and a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.

He said an aggressive operation was launched against measles-rubella and successfully achieved the goals. During the campaign, the coverage performance of all the 11 districts of south Punjab was more than 100 percent. The Muzaffargarh district secured second position in the region and Rajanpur was the third district in terms of meeting target.

South Punjab PSHD secretary Tanveer Iqbal Tabassum said Bahawalnagar district was fifth and Lodhran on eighth in terms of coverage.

The target meeting reports from Bahawalpur, Multan, Vehari, Rahimyar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khanewal and Layyah were also satisfactory. Total vaccination target of all 11 districts of south Punjab during the campaign was 14,843,783, he said. He maintained 15,953,000 children were immunized against the disease in all districts of south Punjab. The south Punjab district-wise break up shows that during the campaign, 2,176,113 children were vaccinated in Muzaffargarh district, 1,45,121 in Bahawalnagar, 21,320, 92 in Multan and 2,145,161 in Rahimyar Khan, 1,653, 826 in Bahawalpur and 1,266,677 children in Khanewal districts.