16 January 2005	Sunday	05 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Jan 15: Low participation of women vaccinators in some areas, non-cooperation of local administrations and lack of coordination between vaccinating teams are main factors affecting the campaign to eliminate polio in the NWFP.

An official document detailing the polio situation in the NWFP during 2004 said that the NWFP remained the main focus of the 'Polio Eradication Initiative' at national and regional level, adding that seven confirmed polio cases had been reported during the past year from seven districts against 33 such cases during 2003.

Two polio cases were reported from the North Waziristan Agency during the same period, the document said. Throughout the year, 13,239 teams carried vaccinations in addition to 1,659 centres and 474 transit units.

There were 54 per cent women in the vaccination teams. There were no women vaccinators in the Kohistan area and the South Waziristan Agency while Mardan district recorded the highest number of women vaccinators with 97 per cent.

In some of districts, such as Karak, Tank, and Swat, the districts administration did not properly support the vaccination teams. Vaccinators in Bannu, Nowshera, Kohistan and Dera Ismail Khan expressed concern against the local administration after encountering a non-cooperative attitude.

The campaign activities included catch up of missed children and post-campaign evaluation as there were 238,786 children recorded missed by the teams of which 83,228 or 35 per cent were covered by the teams.

Besides, a post-campaign evaluation was carried out in all districts to identify poorly covered areas. During the year, the provincial vaccination coverage stood at 97 per cent except in areas like Kohistan where 97 per cent of the total number of missed children stayed outside the vaccination coverage. In other areas, 94 per cent such children were missed in Swabi, 94 per cent in South Waziristan.