KARACHI: As the country is set to launch a nationwide gigantic exercise to inoculate children against polio next week, the administration of the Karachi’s central district on Monday put their heads together to devise a plan to effectively target more than 300,000 children of age less than five years while declaring 12 of its more than 50 union councils as high-risk parts of the district.

Chairing a meeting of the district polio monitoring committee, the deputy commissioner of the district, Dr Saifur Rehman, said that it was the first well-coordinated campaign in six months offering an opportunity to get most of it as earlier campaigns got disrupted because of bad law and order situation.

Also read: Two new polio cases reported from Karachi

He later told newsmen that special attention was being given to 12 high-risk UCs in the district. Total number of targeted population of under-5 children was 370,842 for which security had been ensured for 1,150 polio teams.

He said the required preparedness was done and vaccine doses were delivered. “We are trying our level best to convince parents to get their children administered with polio drops and Vitamin-A dose,” he said, adding that 2.7 per cent of the parents had earlier refused to the polio teams, which included certain posh areas.

He said most refusals came from the families of Pakhtun and Gujrati origins.

“We are trying to improve this for which help is being sought from religious scholars as Imam-e-Kaaba and other scholars have already issued a fatwa in favour of polio vaccination to combat this crippling disease,” he added.

Earlier, a representative from the World Health Organisation presented the performance and monitoring report of Gulberg, North Karachi, Liaquatabad and North Nazimabad neighbourhoods.

He stressed the need for putting more effort to reduce refusals.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2014