ISLAMABAD – The government of Pakistan has launched an anti-polio campaign across the country on Monday.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling childhood disease caused by the polio virus and preventable through immunisation. Affecting mostly children under the age of five, polio — which has no cure and can only be prevented by giving a child multiple vaccine doses — can lead to irreversible paralysis.
Over 0.3 million minors will be administered the polio vaccination in the federal capital. The authorities have appointed over 5,000 workers for the anti-polio drive.
In Punjab, 4,700 teams are in place to execute the campaign which will target over 1.7 million children across Lahore, a district administration official told Geo News.
Deputy Commissioner Lahore Anwar-ul-Haq said assistant commissioners and sub-registrars are monitoring the teams.
Appropriate security measures have been taken to protect the teams throughout the three-day campaign that will end on August 8, said DC Haq.
More than 2.4 million children will be targetted in the anti-polio drive in the provincial capital, Karachi.
According to a spokesperson of tthe emergency operation cell, the anti-polio campaign will last for seven days.
A five-day campaign against polio was launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today.
The anti-polio campaign will target 16 high-risk districts, with the target of administering polio vaccine to 36, 27,000 minors.
In Peshawar city alone, KP’s health ministry aims to administer the vaccine to 816,000 minors.
A total of 13 teams have been formed to execute the campaign.
A three-day anti-polio campaign has kicked off in 19 districts of Balochistan today.
More than 1.7 million children will be administered polio drops in the sparsely populated province.
According to Coordinator Anti-Polio Emergency Operation Centre Syed Faisal Ahmed, around 6,067 mobile teams are in place to execute the drive.
Teams will also be present at 413 transit points and 521 other points.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, that suffers from endemic polio, a virus that can cause paralysis or death.–Agencies
