KARACHI, Pakistan: As many as 3.5 million children up to five years of the age will be administered polio vaccine in parts of Sindh province as part of the three-day anti polio campaign beginning from Monday.
The sources said that the special polio eradication campaign will be carried out in in Karachi, Larakana, Shikarpur, Jackobabad, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Kashmore-Kandkhkot and other specific areas of the Sindh.
During door to door campaign, mobile and fix teams constituted by the provincial health department will ensure polio vaccine to the children up to five years of the age.
The number of polio cases in Pakistan has reached 235 during the current year, breaking its 13-year-old record of 199 cases reported in 2000.
The latest figures show that 151 polio cases have been reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), 48 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, 10 from Balochistan and three from Punjab during the current year.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while addressing the steering committee on polio eradication in Islamabad reiterated the commitment of his government to vaccinate all children and make Pakistan a polio free country.
The prime minister said that any laxity or negligence in this regard shall be considered as crime against our future generations. He said that he has instructed all the provinces to take this matter with seriousness.
