QUETTA: A three-day campaign against poliovirus will be launched across Balochistan on Monday.

Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Centre, Balochistan, Rashid Razzaq said that all preparations have been completed to administer polio vaccine and Vitamin-A drops to 2.4 million children under the age of five.

He said 8,886 mobile teams, 952 fixed and 951 transit teams have been deployed in 33 districts of the province to ensure that all children should be administered polio drops.

“We have adopted strict security to prevent any untoward situation. Levies, police and Frontier Corps personnel would be deployed to protect polio workers,” Mr Razzaq said.

Religious scholars, he said, would be there to persuade the parents to get their children vaccinated.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the two countries which still have polio cases.

Four new polio cases were reported this year from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from Sindh and one from Punjab.

“It’s admirable that with the efforts of our frontline workers, no case has been reported in the polio reservoir districts of Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah, but the cross border movement and cases from rest of the country kept the risk very high,” Mr Razzaq said.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2019