November 23, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1429

PESHAWAR, Nov 22: The NWFP government will launch a three-day anti-polio campaign from Nov 24 where 5,507,087 children will be administered anti-polio drops in different localities across the province.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the national immunisation days at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah expressed concern over the increase in number of polio affected children up to 41 in the province.

The minister directed all the executive district officers of health department to make sure administering of the anti-polio drops to all the children in their respective districts. “I myself will monitor the anti-polio campaign to ensure its success across the province,” he vowed.

Unicef Country Representative Ershad Karim said that Pakistan still appeared on the list of polio endemic countries. Referring to a recent statistical data, he said that 41 polio cases existed in the province. It was a serious outbreak which was a concern for all the polio partners and community at large.

“Based on the data of recent polio campaign, a huge number of children have been vaccinated while a good number of children were missed due to various reasons such as misconceptions or security related issues,” he added.

He said in order to strengthen the capacity of the agency and district health teams for communication, 24 (19 in NWFP and 5 in Fata) health communication support officers were appointed in the high risk districts and agencies.

For further strengthening of the communication drive, the Unicef, he said, had placed 33 social mobilisors at community level with an aim of improving on community awareness and enhancing programme acceptance by families. In order to ensure vaccination of the travelling children across the Pakistan-Afghan border, the Fata health department has arranged 46 vaccinators and two supervisors.

He said vitamin-A supplementation would further improve immunity of children, saying that the Unicef was supporting the government in the field of immunisation in selected districts and agencies for development of replicable models.Dr Abdul Jabbar of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said vitamin-A would help improve eyesight, physical growth and resistance powers. Referring to a survey, he said, 13 per cent children in the country lacked vitamin-A, and the vitamin-A drops could help meet the requirements.