QUETTA: The coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre in Balochistan, Syed Faisal Ahmed, said on Tuesday that for updating the data about children under the age of five years the provincial health department had begun an exercise to register houses and children in all parts of the province.

He said the province was getting close to achieving its target of eradicating polio through exemplary coordination among federal and provincial governments at political and administrative levels.

Mr Ahmed said health officials of the province had been directed to ensure that all houses and children should be reached during a vaccination campaign to be launched this month.

The health department has requested people to cooperate with community health workers from local government facilities when they will visit their houses during the exercise to register children. It also sought cooperation of parents and community elders for the success of the exercise.

It said the community health workers would be carrying their official identity cards and parents should ask for their identification when they visit their homes.

The department said the exercise would help the department to determine the exact number of under-five children and would ensure that no child was left behind in the upcoming vaccination campaigns against polio virus.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016