LAHORE, Sept 10: The district administration will launch a two-pronged aggressive drive in the city from Sept 10 to 12 to take on two potentially-fatal diseases threatening its population -- dengue and polio -- in one go.

Introducing the ‘two-in-one’ strategy to administer polio vaccine and check dengue larva simultaneously, the experts will go door-to-door during the three-day sub-national immunisation drive.

The district administration officials believed that as the target in the both diseases was largely indoor population, the strategy would help the experts share their experiences and achieve ‘hundred per cent’ results.

Lahore Health Executive District Officer (EDO) Dr Inaumul Haq told Dawn a large chunk of population living in unhygienic conditions, particularly the Pakhtun families residing in the provincial capital, was highly vulnerable to both polio and dengue.

He said a special anti-polio campaign was being launched in 25 polio-risk districts of Punjab. During this campaign, polio vaccine would be administered to more than 9.9 million children up to the age of five years.

However, he said, the campaigns prime focus would be Lahore where the vaccinators had been given a target of administering the anti-polio drops to 1.4 million children up to five years of age.

For Lahore, he said, recently 85 environment inspectors had been hired who would be part of the joint move against polio and dengue, along with paramedics, civil defence volunteers, scouts, district and town administration officers, vaccinators, Lady Health Visitors, etc. The Unicef and WHO, both partners in the drive, will monitor it. The experts will also distribute pamphlets and leaflets carrying awareness material about the dengue and polio during the drive.

Dr Inam said this time the district administration adopted a different strategy aiming to hit 100pc population in the high-risk localities of the Punjab capital during the drive. These areas include about two dozen Pakhtun-dominated localities, including Manzoorabad in UC 69, Khan Colony in Gulberg and several settlements located alongside River Ravi in Shahdara, Shafiqabad and Bund Road, he added.

Similarly, he said, the families residing in multi-storey buildings, particularly in the Walled City and traveling children would be a priority for the vaccinators.

He said during earlier campaigns, Pakhtun families had been found reluctant to share accurate information about their children and other particulars.

“We have hired Pakhtun speaking staff and experts, mostly women, to administer polio drops in these localities”, Dr Inam said.

He said all vaccinators had been provided WHO-approved thermoses to maintain the temperature required to keep the vaccine effective. They had also been provided vaccine vial monitors (VVM) to check vaccine’s potency, he added.

Dr Inam said the reports of two out of the three sewage samples collected from Gulshan-i-Ravi, Outfall Road and Multan Road confirmed presence of wild polio virus in the environment which was a matter of grave concern and forced the district administration to launch a comprehensive drive this time.