QUETTA: A week-long anti-polio campaign, postponed twice due to devastating flash floods, will be launched in Balochistan’s four high-risk districts from Monday (Sept 26), officials said on Tuesday.

The four districts include Quetta, Pishin, Chaman, Qila Abdullah and eight union councils of Zhob district will also be covered.

Some 900,000 children will be vaccinated during the campaign.

The decision to launch a special campaign was taken on account of a rising number of polio cases in the country.

The other three cases were also detected in KP, including two in Lakki Marwat and one from South Waziristan.

Officials said poliovirus had not been detected in environmental samples in Balochistan for the last 17 months, but it was necessary to conduct a special campaign because of the virus’s presence in different parts of the country.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022