ISLAMABAD: The first polio campaign of the year 2015, which was scheduled to be held from January 5, has been cancelled due to security concerns.

The anti-polio drive was to begin in some areas of the Rawalpindi district, the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and parts of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

The target of the Short Internal Activity Days (SIAD) campaign, which had to be held in the high-risk union councils of 54 districts, was to vaccinate 8.5 million children. However, Rana Safdar, the head of the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for polio, said the targeted children would now be covered in the National Immunisation Days (NIDs) campaign from January 19.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services requesting not to be identified told Dawn that holding polio campaigns with short intervals was necessary to eradicate the crippling disease.

Govt says 8.5m children would now be covered in national drive from 19th

“Unfortunately, since the terror attack on the Army Public School Peshawar on December 16, the whole country has been facing severe security threats. Not only educational institutions have been closed but also security in most of the cities has been put on high alert,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s Polio Cell decided to cancel the campaign, claiming that it wanted more time for the preparations.

The official said the provincial teams had been advised to give more attention on the preparations, pre-campaign monitoring and improving the readiness status of the nationwide polio campaign planned from January 19 to 21.

An official of the KP health ministry said the health departments of KP and Fata were not satisfied with the decision of the federal government to call off the campaign.

“After the 18th amendment, it is the responsibility of the provinces to make such a decision. We had made all the arrangements and were ready to hold the campaign. Moreover, it is easy for us to arrange the campaigns in cities such as Peshawar because instead of three days we have introduced one-day drives,” he said. “However, as the decision has been taken by the Prime Minister’s Polio Cell, we have decided to implement it,” he said.

Dr Rana Safdar, the head of the EOC for polio, who is also the national manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), told Dawn that the campaign had been cancelled because some districts were overburdened.

“The districts have been advised to make preparations for the nationwide campaign. Though there was no direct threat to the polio campaigns, security arrangements are also part of the micro planning,” he said.

It would be ensured that the 8.5 million children, who were supposed to be vaccinated, are covered in the nationwide campaign, he said. In reply to a question, Dr Safdar said it had been decided to hold a campaign in FR Bannu, Quetta and Qilla Abdullah on January 5.

Meanwhile, an official statement issued by the health ministry said the polio campaign had been called off to allow for better preparations for the upcoming national immunisation days.

The decision has been taken in view of the insufficient time available with the districts to prepare for the campaign since many were still engaged with their December campaigns. Furthermore, there was a need to ensure that the polio round is of the highest quality and that necessary security measures for the polio workers are in place.

One more polio case

Meanwhile, one more polio case was confirmed from the Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, which took the count for the year 2014 to 297, as the polio count year ends on January 31.

Pakistan is just three cases away from breaking the record of 1998 in which 300 cases had been reported.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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