CM Sindh initiates anti-polio drive

KARACHI: Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, has initiated a province-wide polio campaign in Karachi and Hyderabad from the 15th to the 21st of August 2022. 

He stated that the campaign would begin in the remaining districts of Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, and Larkana divisions between the 22nd and 28th of August.

CM Murad stated that around 9.9 million children under the age of five would get oral polio drops as part of the program.  "Across the province, 33,982 teams and 9,137 supervisors will participate in the initiative," he said, adding that 3,556 staff members from partner organizations would be deployed for supportive supervision and monitoring.

"In April 2022, Pakistan recorded 14 cases of polio, all of which were in South KP. According to CM Murad, more than 2.4 million of the target of over 9.9 million children reside in Karachi. Seven positive environmental samples have been identified recently in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Sawat, Bannu, and Noshera," he added.

Murad Ali Shah deemed it a memorable victory for his administration and the Emergency Operation Centre, Sindh (EOC), that every environmental sample from our province was negative. "Sindh has not reported any polio cases since July 2020 and has had continuous negative environment samples for the past year," he said and disclosed that after the report of the first case (April 2022) from North Waziristan EOC Sindh increased vigilance at entry and exit points along the province's borders with other regions and vaccinated 571,566 children, of which 13,088 are from South KP District.

CM Murad stated that if we maintained the same pace and enthusiasm, we would continue to witness huge improvements, but we must get complacent and continue to exert effort.  "Children can be protected from crippling childhood diseases like polio through vaccination, and we seek the assistance of all stakeholders to raise awareness for this purpose," he said, adding that the program's efforts have resulted in a reduction of refusals and missed children by approximately 50 percent. Still, we must reduce them more, particularly in Karachi.

According to CM Murad, Pakistan is one of the two nations in the world where polio is endemic, along with Afghanistan. "Remember that there is no treatment for polio, but it can be easily avoided by vaccination, and we are sending workers to your doorsteps. I am certain that people will collaborate with them to help safeguard the future of Pakistan and eradicate polio," he implored the province's residents.