KARACHI: A seven-day special campaign to administer polio drops to immunise over four million children, under the age of five, across the province commenced on Monday.

An official said the campaign is in line with the national polio eradication programme to be run from June 3 to June 9 in 16 districts of Sindh. During this special campaign, he said, a total of 4,757,303 children will receive polio drops through 40,000 polio workers and security personnel.

“The training of the campaign staff is already done and considering the hot weather, arrangements have been made for ORS, clean drinking water, and caps for the polio workers,” he added.

“A meeting chaired last week by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho emphasised that children arriving from other provinces and particularly Afghanistan should be given polio drops at all railway stations and bus stops, with assistance from law enforcement agencies,” he added.

He also referred to the meeting discussion which decided that students from medical and public health institutions will also be included in the campaign.

These students, he said, would persuade reluctant parents to have their children vaccinated against polio virus.

“All deputy commissioners are supervising the campaign and reviewing its progress in evening meetings for each union council,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2024