Anti-polio campaign to begin in Karachi from Feb 10

The Sindh Emergency Operation Centre for Polio will be conducting a polio eradication campaign across Karachi from February 10 to 17, it said Saturday.

The drive will target approximately 2.3 million children less
than 5 years of age in all six districts of the city.

More than 13,000 workers and supervisors will take part in
the campaign and 5,000 police personnel will provide security cover to the
teams that will go door to door, the EOC said in a statement.

The anti-polio vaccinators will also visit schools to
administer the vaccine to children.

After a difficult year for polio in 2019, the government
aims to turn the tide with successive campaigns until June 2020, according to
the EOC.

It appealed to parents to come forward and have their
children vaccinated in order to save them from this vaccine-preventable
disease.

Apart from schools and door-to-door visits, more than 30
hospitals, 60 pediatric clinics and EPI centres across the city will also be
administering the vaccine. In order to reach the maximum number of children,
vaccinations will also be offered at these facilities in the evening.

In the lead-up to the campaign, the EOC led meetings with
all district staff in Karachi to identify the gaps and help fill them as well
as to motivate the staff to do their best.

In addition, special motivation programs were held in the
super high-risk UCs of Karachi, where high-performing workers and supervisors
were appreciated and given certificates by EOC Coordinator Rehan Baloch and the
EOC core team.

“The time is from now till June,” Baloch told
workers on the occasion. “All of you must perform and leave no stone
unturned so that we can save the future of our children.

“It is all of you who turned the situation around from
when we had 306 polio cases in the country in 2014 to just 12 in 2018,” he
said. “I am counting on you to do your best to turn this around again.”

On the directives of Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah, the EOC had
earlier held a grand session with all UC chairpersons in Karachi who pledged
their support to polio eradication regardless of their political affiliations.

In the week leading up to the campaign, these local body
officials kept their promise and held sessions with district staff to identify
areas where their support is needed, the EOC said. They will now join teams on
the ground to cover children missing vaccinations and further sensitize the
ones who are resistant.

The EOC said the incident in Peshawar in April 2019 and a
long gap in the polio campaign led to an increase in cases. However, a
successful campaign in Dec 2019 and a case response in Jan 2020 form a good
foundation to turn the tide and get back on track, it added.

The EOC is fully committed to conduct the upcoming campaigns
with the same energy and commitment, it said further. In addition to this,
steps are also being taken to increase routine immunization coverage across
Sindh.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/living/health/2020/02/anti-polio-campaign-to-begin-in-karachi-from-feb-10/