TIMERGARA: Over 300,000 children under the age of five years will be vaccinated in Lower Dir district during the next anti-polio campaign, deputy commissioner Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said on Friday.

Chairing a ‘polio eradication review’ meeting here, the deputy commissioner said a negative propaganda against polio vaccine had adversely affected the last anti-polio campaign in the district.

He expressed concern about the detection of 19 nationwide polio cases in the year but said the government was striving to eliminate the crippling disease from the country.

Mr Yousafzai said the anti-polio vaccine was safe, so the government functionaries were administering it to their own children.

He said a total of 311,297 children would be vaccinated against polio in Lower Dir district during the next four-day campaign beginning on June 17 for which 843 teams had been formed.

District health officer Dr Shaukat Ali, deputy district education officer (male) Mohammad Riaz, SDEOs, ADOs and health officials attended the meeting.

Also in the day, a seminar was held at the Government Postgraduate College here to create public awareness of the harms caused by polio.

The event was held on the orders of Lower Dir deputy commissioner Shaukat Ali Yousafzai.

WHO divisional surveillance officer Dr Mehboob Khan, EPI coordinator Dr Irshad Rughani and technical experts addressed the seminar, where principal, teachers and students were in attendance.

There followed a question and answer session.

TRAINING: The Lower Dir police on Thursday held a training session for the traffic personnel of Bajaur tribal district.

Head of the Lower Dir traffic education unit Hashmatullah informed participants about traffic rules, signals and challan book and educated them on how to efficiently control traffic during peak hours.

District police officer Peer Shahab Ali Shah, who was present on the occasion, asked traffic police to deal with road users politely and decently.

He said Bajaur traffic police would be deployed with Lower Dir police at important intersections for some days.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2019