Quetta: Provincial coordinator of Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Balochistan Dr. Saif-ur-Rehman has said that a three day anti-polio campaign would kick off from 14th of March, covering 30 districts of Balochistan aiming to vaccinate target population of 2,383,310.
Addressing a news conference here on Monday, he said that as many as 6,661 mobile teams, 820 fixed site facilitation points and 334 transit points would perform the duties of administering the anti-polio drops to the children in the province. Dr. Aftab Kakar of N-STOP, Dr. Nasir Abdi of WHO and Dr. Ashraf UNICEF were also present during the press conference.
He further said that currently Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries around the world where polio is endemic, adding that during the current year 6 cases of polio were registered in Pakistan among them one was from Quetta.
He said that a cross border meeting was organized with Afghan authorities during the previous days wherein both the countries agreed to enhance polio immunization campaigns in a coordinated way in the bordering towns across the province, special campaigns would be launched in the adjoining villages of borders so that the threat is dealt with effectively.
He said that within Pakistan special focus would also be rendered to the tribes who undertake seasonal migrations in other provinces and turn back to Balochistan during the winter season, adding that community volunteers are also engaged in the process that are rendering services in various districts of Balochistan, among them Ulema, tribal elites and social activists are worth-mentioning.
He also informed media that quality of campaigns has also improved over the years in Balochistan and various lots have passed scrutiny in Killa Abdullah, Pishin, and Quetta. He said that an independent organization also counter confirms the effectiveness of the campaigns and its results have also showed 90 percent accuracy.
He said that being sandwiched between two high risk zones—Karachi and Kandhar—the threats still loom higher on the Balochistan.
He said that during the current campaign the security forces are also engaged to avert any untoward incident, adding Balochistan Levies and Police would accompany the teams to ensure security while Frontier Corpse (FC) would also assist the campaigns in bordering towns.
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