ISLAMABAD, July 12: Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Monday urged the legislators to actively participate in the national campaign for polio eradication.

Speaking at a meeting on polio eradication at the Prime Minister Secretariat, he directed the provincial governments to involve the women teachers in the campaign, if necessary.

The prime minister said the elected representatives in districts, Tehsils and union councils should extend full support to anti-polio drive and particularly asked the women representatives to help in the campaign.

Health secretary Tariq Farouk; the campaign team leader, Lt-Gen (retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch; UN resident representative Onder Yucer; WHO country representative Dr Najibullah Mojadidi, Unicef chief of health Dr Rafah Aziz, National EPI manager Dr Rehman Abdul Hafiz and Dr Anthony Mounts attended the meeting.

The prime minister stressed the need for collective efforts to eradicate polio from the country. He assured full commitment of the government in this programme. Mr Hussain expressed satisfaction over the implementation of earlier campaigns as a result of which only 19 cases of polio had been identified during the current calendar year.

The health secretary gave a detailed briefing on the nationwide programme of polio eradication and briefed the participants on the National Immunization Programme. He said it was a multi-sectoral effort of the government, WHO, Unicef and the donor community to give vaccines to children below the age of five years.

The UN country representative assured full support of UN and the donor community. He appreciated the national leadership for giving focused attention to the campaign. -APP