PESHAWAR: The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) reported no new polio case in 2017. The first anti-polio campaign of the year 2018 is starting today (Monday), a statement from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) stated. The three-day anti-polio vaccination would be conducted under the supervision of agency surgeons and security provided by political agents, commissioners and law enforcement forces. The anti-polio vaccination campaign will continue from January 15 to 17, followed by catch up of missed children. A total of 1,025,429 children below the age of five years will be vaccinated with polio drops by 4,365 teams: comprising 3,980 mobile teams, 285 fixed teams and 100 transit teams. FATA EOC Coordinator Muhammad Zubair Khan advised his teams to focus on both polio high risk settlements as well as high risk mobile population to ensure vaccination of all under five years’ old children in FATA. “We should concentrate on vaccinating high risk mobile children moving to and from the polio reservoir areas andthe persistently missed children.” Khan said that his department was getting closer to eradicating polio in FATA, saying that his department had achieved the goal of keeping zero polio casestatus in FATA during 2017. Appreciating the efforts of field staff, he said that the front line workers had left no stone unturned to safeguard children from polio virus in FATA.
Published in Daily Times, January 15th 2018.
