Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister of Awqaf, Hajj and Religious Affairs Sahibzada Muhammad Adnan Qadri along with prominent religious scholars of the province had formally kicked off the anti-polio campaign starting from September 9 to vaccinate over 6.425 million children under five years of age in the province. Sahibzada Adnan Qadri said that the first phase of this anti-polio campaign would be carried out in 27 specific districts including Bannu District, North Waziristan, South Waziristan Upper, South Waziristan Lower, Malakand, Swat, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Chitral Lower , Chitral Upper, Bajaur, Kohistan Upper, Kohistan Lower, Abbottabad, Haripur and all the districts of Peshawar, Mardan and Kohat divisions wherein as many as 5.754 million children would be vaccinated against the crippling disease.

Similarly, during the second phase of the drive, which was scheduled for September 23, more than 672,000 children would be vaccinated against polio. He said that 35,259 teams of trained polio workers, including 24,862 mobile teams, 7,300 observers, 1,724 fixed teams, 1,245 transit teams and 128 roaming teams have been constituted to administer anti polio drops to the target population of children. Apart from this, 7,175 area in-charges have been appointed to fully supervise these teams to ensure that all children in their respective areas are vaccinated against polio, he said adding that about 50,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure foolproof security of the polio teams during the campaign.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan