3-day polio campaign is being started from today in Punjab

Lahore: The Spokesman of Health Department Punjab has said that 3-day polio campaign is being started from today in Punjab like all over the country. He said that total number of target children in Punjabis would be over 17.5 million and total number of union councils where campaign is being held is 3511. He said that total number of teams constituted for door to door vaccination in the NID in Punjab is over 39,900. He said that over 7000 area incharges including vaccinators will supervise their teams in this campaign. He said that special emphasis will be laid on vaccinating the population on the move at permanent transit points.

The spokesman said that campaign is being held in the wake of resurgence of polio cases all over the country. There are 166 cases so far this year compared to 41 this time in 2013, spokesman added. He said that numbers of infected districts has reduced from 21 in 2013 to 15 in 2014. Environmental sampling results however confirm that since January 2014, the virus is circulating across the country.

He said that most of the population displaced by the military operation in NWA has moved to the settled areas in different parts of the country instead of refugee camps. He said that the displacement of around one million persons in the high transmission season for polio with limited access to basic amenities poses threats to the health of the displaced individuals as well as the people residing in areas.

However, access to the children who are migrated from NWA for the first time in two years, has given hope that intensive vaccination efforts in the latter half of this year will put Pakistan back on track in 2015 to eradicate polio. He said that the security situation has resulted in the establishment of provincial and district security coordination committees to engage law enforcement agencies and police forces in campaign planning and implementation.

The spokesman said that in May 2014, WHO declared the international spread of wild polio virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and issued a set of Temporary Recommendations (IHR) under the IHR (2005) to address the emergency. As one of the countries from where the virus has spread in 2014, Pakistan is now implementing the IHR for international travel, he added.

The spokesman said that to achieve the polio eradication goal, the programme has taken a strategic shift from refusal coverage to missed children (Refusal and Not/Available). He said that an online real time database system called “Polio Info Pakistan” has been launched in 2014. He said that this is one stop database system compatible to synchronize with other government owned systems. The new system gives basis and comprehensive analysis of missed children for evidence based planning, spokesman concluded.