PESHAWAR, Pakistan: As many as 3.44 million children under the age of five would be vaccinated against polio as three days anti-polio campaign has been started in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Monday (today).
Talking to media persons here at Emergency Operation Centre Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Coordinator EOC Akbar Khan said that successful efforts were being made to eradicate polio that has resulted in marked decrease in polio cases in the province as compared to previous years.
However, he hastened on to add that curtailing virus or decrease in polio cases was not our target rather we were aiming to deracinate the disease from this region.
Akbar Khan said that three days anti-polio drive has been started in 13 districts of the province including Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, Hangu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Karak and Torgher.
A total of 10029 teams have been constituted comprising 19256 vaccinators and 2101 Area Incharges to reach out to the target population, he added.
Giving breakup details of the district teams, Akbar Khan informed that 1976 teams have been constituted in Peshawar, 1330 teams in Swat, 1003 Mardan, 954 in Dera Ismail Khan, 937 Nowshera, 770 Charsadda, 602 teams in Lakki Marwat, 586 Bannu, 571 Kohat, 428 in Karak, 336 Hangu 269 teams in Tank and 267 in Tor Gher.
He told that teams have been given special training to cope with the programmatic challenges and to successfully achieve the target.
Moreover, he said that special security measures have been taken to ensure security cover to the teams and smooth running of the campaign.
Akbar Khan urged parents and people from all walks of life to support the cause and help the government in stamping out this disease.
Source: APP
