Secretary Health inaugurates anti-polio drive in Karachi

KARACHI: Secretary Health Sindh, Saeed Awan, recently inaugurated the anti-polio campaign in Karachi by administrating polio drops to a child at the Sindh Government Lyari General Hosptial and appealed to parents to vaccinate their children.

He said that this is a critical campaign to vaccinate their children and protect them from the threat of polio. He urged that parents must not fall prey to false propaganda and must vaccinate their children to save them from life-long disability.

The Emergency Operation Center for Polio in Sindh has launched the polio campaign in 105 Union Councils of Karachi and other districts of the province. The drive conducted from 17^th - 23^rd June 2019 in Karachi and 17^th - 20^th June in Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Dadu, Jamshoro, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Naushero Feroze, Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Larkana, Kambar, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, and Kashmore.

The campaign is being conducted in 26 districts of Sindh including 6 districts of Karachi.

The target population for this campaign is 5.5 million under-five children. In Karachi, the campaign will be conducted in 105 UC's and will target more than 1.5 million while the total target of all other areas of Sindh is just above 3.9 million.

Around 30,000 plus front line workers and area supervisors are taking part in this campaign across the province out of which more than 10000 have been deployed in Karachi where they have been provided security cover by 5000 police personnel and members from law enforcement agencies.

More than 8000 teams, 1650 area in-charges, and more than 215 union council communication officers (UCMOs) will take part in the campaign in Karachi.

So far in 2019, Pakistan has reported 24 cases of polio out of which 18 have been reported from KP, 3 from Punjab, and 3 from Sindh. Out of the 3 cases in Sindh, 2 have been reported from Karachi.

The district and divisional administrations along with partners and front line workers have worked tirelessly in the province, but more work needs to be done to ensure we reach zero polio cases, this is our goal, and we will continue our efforts till it is achieved.