ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: A three-day anti-polio campaign is set to begin in high-risk areas across the country on Monday, but Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore have been excluded from the drive for now because of rains and the T20 cricket tournament.

Although rain has also affected Karachi, the forecast there indicates a clear weather in the coming days and, therefore, the campaign in the city will proceed as per schedule.

Under the three-day campaign and a two-day catch-up, about 6.71 million children under the age of five will be administered oral polio vaccine in Sindh, 5.987m in Punjab, 3.638m in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1.683m in Balochistan and 1.065m in Fata.

Around 125,000 personnel, including government employees, lady health workers and temporary workers, will participate in the campaign. These include around 11,991 area in-charges, 3,516 UC medical officers, 94,839 mobile team members, 4,685 fixed team members and 5,638 transit team members.

An official of the polio programme told Dawn that over the past few days, Lahore had seen heavy rains and more rain was expected in the coming days. In addition, the T20 cricket tournament being held in Rawalpindi has diverted a large number of security officials there.

“In Lahore, the campaign will now be carried out from Sept 5 to 8 and that in Rawalpindi from Sept 7 to 10,” he said.

Rana Safdar, head of the Emergency Operations Centre for polio, told Dawn that they were quite serious about this campaign because it was the first of the low-transmission season.

The low-transmission season runs from September to May and is so called because poliovirus remains inactive in low temperatures and can easily be eradicated.

“We don’t want to miss any child for any reason, so we decided to reschedule the polio campaigns in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore,” he said.

Dr Safdar said that every team would be monitored during the campaign and that provisions were made for third-party monitoring as well.

At least 1.6 million children will be vaccinated against poliovirus during the three-day campaign in 15 districts of Balochistan.

Emergency Operation Center Balochistan coordinator Syed Faisal Ahmed said that 402 fixed and 213 transit points had been established in these districts where 3,875 polio workers would vaccinate 1,636,934 children.

He said the campaign would focus on transit points, especially the Pak-Afghan Friendship Gate, where children under the age of 10 would be administrated polio vaccine to curb transmission of the crippling disease.

About security arrangements during the campaign, Mr Ahmed said Frontier Corps and army personnel would be deployed in sensitive areas of the province to prevent any incident.

The anti-polio drive in Qilla Saifullah, Qilla Abdullah, Naseera­bad, Jaffarabad, Pishin, Loralai, Dera Bugti, Lasbela, Sherani, Quetta, Zhob, Jhal Magsi, Bharkhan, Khuzdar, Musa Khel and other parts of the province would start as per announced dates, he added.

Mr Ahmed urged the media and religious scholars to play their vital role and encourage the parents to get their children vaccinated against polio.

Our Correspondent in Khar adds: Strict security measures have been taken for safety of the health workers engaged in the three-day anti-polio drive beginning in Bajaur Agency on Monday.

An official of the local health department told Dawn on Sunday that over 227,000 children below the age of five would be administered oral polio vaccine during the campaign. A total of 700 teams comprising over 1,500 health workers, teachers and volunteers will take part in the campaign.

The administration has made strict security arrangements across the agency to protect vaccinators from any unpleasant incident during the anti-polio drive.

According to the official, only one polio case has been detected in the entire tribal belt this year — in South Waziristan Agency.

The anti-polio campaign in hilly and remote Chamarkand tehsil was completed on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016