PESHAWAR: A three-day anti-polio campaign targeting 965,675 children below the age of five years is starting in high-risk parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Area and Frontier Regions today (Monday).

The campaign will be followed by another three-day activity to cover the missed children, according to a statement.

The drive would be conducted in FR Lakki, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Bannu besides Khyber, North Waziristan and South Waziristan Agencies in response to the sole polio case of the year detected in South Waziristan a fortnight ago.

The statement said that 1,888 teams, including 1,744 mobile, 103 fixed and 41 transit, will administer oral polio vaccine to children with security-cover from forces under the supervision of political agents in Fata and commissioners in the frontier regions.

In June 2016, two campaigns were carried out in FR DI Khan, FR Tank and South Waziristan covering 124,257 children. Vaccinators also gave OPV to 4,418 children in de-notified 36 villages of three tehsils in South Waziristan Agency. Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) was also provided to 1,222 children.

The statement quoted Fata health authorities as saying that the vaccinators have been mobilised to reach every child to sustain the progress made with regard to polio eradication campaigns during past two years.

Fata recorded last polio case after a gap of seven months. The past two years have been very good because in 2014, the region stayed atop the polio-endemic districts in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2016