PESHAWAR: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas on Wednesday completed a year without a polio case. The last polio case emerged in the Fata on July 27, 2016, and the zero polio case status has been maintained since then.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra applauded the Expanded Programme on Immunization’s Fata team and vaccinators for keeping the Fata polio free for the last one year.

“It is a significant milestone achieved for the first time in the fight against polio in Fata,” he said in a statement.

He congratulated the emergency operations centre (EOC ) coordinator Dr Fida Mohammad Wazir for his efforts and inspiring leadership, who could steer the programme to success despite harsh challenges.

“It has been an unprecedented year of quality leadership by Dr Fida Wazir and efforts of EOC Fata team and field teams who kept Fata polio-free for a year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Wazir, in a statement, also appreciated the EOC Fata team and agency level teams for the completion of a year without a polio case.

“We should continue to strive for keeping Fata polio free for ever, which is possible now that a lot has been achieved,” he said. He said it was important to keep constant check on mobile population as they could be a source of transmitting virus from other regions to the Fata.

Recent focus of polio programme, he said, had been on reaching and vaccinating persistently missed children and high-risk mobile population.

The coordinator said that in line with the National Emergency Action Plan 2017-18 female vaccination teams were being hired and renewed focus initiated on developing accurate micro plans so that space for missing a single child was eliminated.

He said the Fata EPI team would continue efforts and work hard to sustain the unprecedented achievements and keep the region polio free.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2017