Anti-polio campaigns begin in Sindh, KP and FATA

KARACHI: The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio has launched an anti-polio campaign from today until Friday (November 3) in 21 districts/towns of Sindh.

These districts include Karachi, Dadu, Ghotki, Jaccobabad, Kambar, Kashmore, Larkana, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Badin, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Matiari, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar, SBA, Sajjawal, Thatta and Jamshoro.

The campaign’s primarily targets 7,127,711 children under the age of five, out of which 1,748,244 will be vaccinated under 162 union councils of Karachi.

Coordinator Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Sindh Fayaz Jatoi said “the district administrations and town health management teams have significantly improved the situation but there is no room for complacency as the virus can return at any time, it is a big achievement that there wasn’t a single polio case reported in Karachi for almost 20 months, however, our goal is to reach zero cases”.

Fayaz Jatoi further said “we must also appreciate the efforts and coordination of the Sindh police that have without fail given us security cover during every single campaign so our workers can carry on with their jobs, during this campaign the police will once again provide more than 5,000 police personnel in Karachi for security cover, patrolling and enabling a safe and secure environment.”

There have been five cases of polio in Pakistan during 2017 which is a historical low, out of these only one case from Sindh was reported in Karachi in August 2017. With regards to Central and Northern Sindh, no case has been reported for more than one and a half year.

Campaign in KP, FATA

Meanwhile, a three-day campaign to end polio has been started in 13 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

According to EOC spokesman, the target is to administer polio drops to one million children in the FATA.

In 13 districts of KP, the target is to vaccinate 1,355,000 children, said the spokesman, adding thatin 2016, two cases of polio were known in the South Waziristan.

This year no case of polio was reported in the FATA, although one case was reported in Lucky Marwat district, said the spokesman.