Anti-polio campaign in Fata, FRs from 15th

PESHAWAR: Officials of the Fata Secretariat, with the support of Unicef, World Health Organisation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will launch four-day anti-polio campaign in Fata and Frontier Regions (FRs) from February 15.

Children in high-risk areas including Khyber Agency, South Waziristan, North Waziristan and FR Bannu (Bakarkhel, Janikhel, Hindikhel and Sintanga areas) will be vaccinated for seven days, said a communiqué.

Anti-polio drops will be administered to an estimated 981,040 children through 3,078 teams, including 2,718 mobile teams, 270 fixed and 90 transit teams under the supervision and security provided by political agents, commissioners, paramilitary and military forces.

It will be second anti-polio campaign launched in 2016. In the campaign of January, 98 percent of the target children were successfully vaccinated while only (142) 0.015 percent refusals were encountered. Last year only 16 polio cases were detected in Fata and FRs, whereas no case has surfaced in 2016 so far.

In the recent Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting held at National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) Islamabad, TAG officials appreciated the leadership of EOC Fata Coordinator Shakeel Qadir Khan and Fata EOC team for complete shift from hujra vaccination to house-to-house vaccination across the tribal region and for focused implementation of a successful IPV campaigns in core reservoir areas in December 2015. The TAG officials also recognised the work done by the Pakistani security forces in ensuring secure environment for all vaccinators in Fata and FRs.