PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, the World Polio Day (WPD) was observed in all districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) including Peshawar metropolis with renewed commitment and call for rigorous efforts at all levels to eradicate polio virus from the country and protect children from the vaccine preventable diseases.
The resolve for polio eradication was made here on Monday at Civil Secretariat where Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Shahzad Bangash, Secretary Health KP, Amer Tareen and Additional Secretary Health (Polio), Asif Rahim administered polio drops to the children to kick off polio campaign for the October round.
The theme for World Polio Day 2022 was “Healthier Future for Mother and Children”. Relevant administrative secretaries, additional inspector general police, Headquarters 11 Corps representative, international donors’ representatives and officials of health department were also present on the occasion. Divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated in the meeting through video link.
The inauguration was followed by meeting of the Provincial Task Force (PTF) for polio eradication to review the performance of all the districts for the August National Immunization drives and to assess preparations for the October campaign.
Chief Secretary Dr Shahzad Bangash while chairing the task force meeting appreciated the efforts of provincial EOC, district teams and law enforcing agencies saying that the efforts for polio eradication are in the right direction hoping that the region will soon be purged of the menace.
He said factual reporting of fake finger marking and refusals was good for the course correction as unless the issue was reported, it cannot be solved. The Chief Secretary appreciated holding of health camps, intensified outreach activities during floods saying that these are good initiatives that helped in improved routine immunization status and coverage of missed children.
“The day is not far when the southern belt of the province along with the region will be cleansed of the virus and the globe will be free of the crippling disease,” he added. He said the government was determined more than ever for stamping out polio virus from the country and the only way to achieve this target is to ensure vaccination of all eligible children in every campaign.
Dr Shahzad Khan Bangash urged all parents to cooperate with polio teams and administer polio drops to their children saying that together with our frontline workers and community’s support, the target of making a safer, healthier and polio-free Pakistan for our children would be achieved.
Briefing the forum about the upcoming Sub-National Immunization Drive (SNID), Additional Secretary Health (Polio) and Coordinator EOC, said that the campaign was planned in 28 districts of the province wherein over 4.38 million children will be immunized against polio while in four districts of D.I Khan, Tank, South Waziristan and Lakki Marwat fractional Inactivated Polio Vaccination (fIPV) campaign will be carried out along with Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) drive.
Asif Raheem said that the October campaign will be carried out in 17 complete districts including Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, D.I. Khan, Tank, South Waziristan, Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Orakzai, Peshawar, Khyber, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mohmand, Swat, Bajaur while partial campaign will be conducted in selected union councils of 11 districts including Buner, Chitral Upper and Lower, Dir Upper and Lower, Haripur, Kurram, Malakand, Manshera, Mardan and Swabi.
A total of 15212 teams have been constituted to vaccinate the children in the October campaign out of which 13374 are mobile teams, 1101 fix and 737 Transit teams while 3214 Area In-charges have been deployed to ensure the quality of the campaign, he informed.
Earlier, talking to media on the occasion, Secretary Health Amer Sultan Tareen said that today on world polio day, the government renew its commitment and resolve for the disease eradication from this region by initiating reinvigorated efforts at all levels to give a final push to the virus and wipe out the menace for good.
“Today we are closer than ever to stamping out the virus from Pakistan, but this last mile is the hardest and most important with no room for complacency adding that we must ensure all under five years children are vaccinated and safe from this vaccine-preventable contagious disease,” he said.
In his message on World Polio Day, he acknowledged the efforts of frontline workers saying that success in polio eradication was not possible without the sacrifices of these workers who are braving every challenge to ensure protection of children from polio and other vaccine preventable diseases.