PESHAWAR: The government will start replacing rusty sewage pipelines in Shaheen Muslim Town and Larama union councils from next month as part of the Sehat Ka Insaf programme to eliminate the breeding sites of poliovirus in Peshawar, according to officials.

They said that the two UCs were those where 90 per cent of environmental water samples were found positive for four consecutive years, but only a fortnight ago samples from the area tested negative for poliovirus. Still it was thought that a durable solution was needed to contain poliovirus.

The pipelines are being laid with the donors’ assistance, they said.

“Clearing of garbage and replacing sewage pipes in certain areas is about to begin,” they said.

The only long-term solution to the faulty drainage system is replacement of rusty pipes because they could pose threat to anti-polio efforts in Peshawar, which is home to huge migrant and transit population.

The old leaking pipes could thwart vaccination efforts in view of the danger of transmission of viruses from Bara, Khyber Agency.

The officials said that it would enable the health department to eradicate poliovirus from Peshawar, which had been declared as global polio reservoir only due to presence of the virus in water. “Virus could live up to four weeks in water and find their way to drinking water system and thus reach those consuming water,” the officials said.

The ongoing campaign seeks to vaccinate children against poliomyelitis repeatedly in single-day campaigns with 12 of them already planned. “We have been vaccinating children in the seven rounds of the 12 campaigns planned under the Sehat Ka Insaf” the officials said.

WHO Global Polio Eradication said in statement on Saturday that door-to-door drive had been vaccinating 700,000 children besides handing down public health messages in an area which served as engine of polio transmission. Taliban’s ban on vaccination left .28 million children at risk of polio in Waziristan and efforts were underway to cope with the challenge. In the coming drive, the health department will distribute 2.2 million water cleaning aqua-tablets to 220,000 households in the high risk UCs of Peshawar. Children between age six months to five years will also be administered ‘Vitamin A’ to help improve their immunity and nutritional level.

They said that contrary to one-day drives the campaigns were previously run for several days during which the police department was not able to spare policemen, but now over 5,000 police personnel provide security cover to vaccinators in every campaign.

The officials said that the high quality vaccination campaign inaugurated by PTI chairman Imran Khan, include immunisation package to protect children against nine vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, including measles, pneumonia, meningitis, hepatitis ‘B’, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, polio and tuberculosis.

For the first time since the immunisation began in the province in 1994, the campaign is a joint venture of the health, administration, police and education departments, the officials said.

They said that the drive was aimed at building a stronger health system in Peshawar by bringing together immunisation, improved sanitation, nutrition and health services and stopping poliovirus transmission.

The initiative targeting .75 million children in 97 UCs has gained momentum as the vaccinators recorded 83 per cent vaccination in the first round, which continued to surge with each of the round. The officials said that in the last campaign 95.6 per cent children were administered OPV.

“We use the existing infrastructure for vaccination and holding medical camps where free diagnostic and treatment services are provided to people in slum areas. On average about 3,500 people benefit from the four camps every Monday,” they said.

The officials said that over 250,000 health education materials such as booklets had been distributed to scale up public awareness regarding significance of immunization and prevent diseases like dengue fever and hepatitis.