RAWALPINDI, Jan 19: District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani on Monday called for making collective efforts for eradicating the menace of polio. He was speaking at the launch of a three-day polio vaccination campaign, as part of the National Immunization Days, being held from Jan 20-22.

The district Nazim along with his deputy, Raja Javed Ikhlas, administered polio vaccine drops to the children. During the three-day campaign, 506,780 children below the age of five years will be vaccinated in the Rawalpindi district.

Mr Kiani said, though, the district had become polio-free and no case had been reported for the past 28 months, efforts would remain afoot to fortify the resistance capability of the exposed children.

The last confirmed polio case in the district was reported in August 2001. Third party assessments, normally held after the polio vaccination campaigns in the past, have shown that vaccination coverage during immunization days has been increased from 80 per cent to 97.8 per cent. Besides, the local health authorities are putting greater emphasis on routine vaccination.

The Nazim warned the patients that the disease was a grave threat to the well being of their children. He urged them to fully cooperate with the health department and besides bringing their children for vaccination, motivate others, too, in this regard.

He told the parents that no one was safe until everyone was safe. Therefore, even if a single child is missed out, it can nullify all the achievements made so far with regard to elimination of polio.

Executive District Officer (health) Dr Syed Abid Hussain highlighted the arrangements made by the health department to reach out to the children and attain positive results.

For the January 20-22 campaign, the district has been divided into 36 zones, which have been further partitioned into 203 areas. As many as 1,405 teams, each comprising two members, have been formed to run the campaign. Next polio vaccination campaigns are planned for March and April.