December 05, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 6, 1429

PESHAWAR, Dec 4: The federal ministry of health has decided to run ‘special’ anti-polio campaigns from Dec 17 in the selected districts of the NWFP and tribal areas to administer only monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine Type-3 (mOPV3) among the children.

The decision has been taken in view of the fact that most of the cases reported this year in NWFP and the Fata were P3 virus. The district health department Peshawar had recently blamed the World Health Organisation (WHO) for administering inappropriately the children against the P3 virus which caused the upsurge.

Responding to the complaint, the federal ministry of health, in its meeting held on Dec 1, decided to run the three-day campaign wherein the children below the age of five will be given only mOPV3 in Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and Kohat districts, and Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber agencies along with the Frontier Regions of Kohat and Peshawar.

The P3 virus had been typical of the Afghan refugees and according to the executive district officer (health) Peshawar, the rise in such cases was due to the frequent and unhindered cross border movement of the Afghans. The campaign would also immunise children in the Afghan refugee camps.

The ministry has directed the EDOs health and surgeons of concerned districts and tribal agencies to make sure all the children in their respective areas received the mOPV3.

It also directed the concerned quarters to provide mOPV3 and other desired stuff, such as tally sheets, finger markers and forms used for registering the missed children. The ministry also called for engaging the district coordination officers and nazims to achieve the targets.

It also urged the concerned officials to get the services of more female staff and undertake other alternate measures to improve access to the high risk groups, including highly mobile, security compromised, conservative, and hard to reach and refusal populations.