PESHAWAR, Oct 3: The provincial government has asked Unicef to make recruitments for mobilisation of people in collaboration with health department to avoid duplication of activities and ensure joint efforts to eradicate polio, sources say.

The government also urged Unicef to resolve difference with National Development and Research Foundation (NDRF), saying those could reverse the progress made in immunisation.

In a letter addressed to Unicef Peshawar chief field officer Wafa Saeed, the provincial deputy director of expanded programme on immunisation, Dr Jan Baz Afridi, on September 14 said that in future UN children fund should hire services of any organisation for its mobilisation activities in consultation with the health department, according to sources.

The Unicef has been supporting the communication and social mobilisation components of polio eradication efforts through hiring services of National Resource Development Foundation, COMNet and through financial support to the districts.

The two-page letter, written on behalf of the government, also expressed concern over differences between Unicef and NRDF, saying it would create unnecessary confusion and doubts in the minds of community.

“We are of the firm opinion that effective coordination holds key to the objectives set forth in polio eradication programme,” the letter said.

The NRDF, which with the support of clerics ran a programme from November 2009 in the province, ended collaboration with Unicef in September over ‘disgracing remarks’ by a senior Unicef official, sources said.

The programme supposed to end on Dec 31, 2012, stands suspended from April. “The differences should be resolved on priority basis to stop unnecessary and uncalled for speculations about vaccination,” the letter said.

Officials said that hiring of staff by a private consultancy firm, CHIP, on behalf of Unicef to create Communication Network (COMNet), had also irked the health department.

So far 224 communication officers at district and union council levels had been appointed in the province out of the total over 1,100 COMNet staff currently deployed in the 33 districts identified as high-risk by the World Health Organisation. In Fata, 162 COMNet staffers work under Unicef.

Dr Afridi, when approached, said that health department and provincial government highly valued the support provided by Unicef in implementation of child health projects, including polio eradication.

“We have also made progress on the goals outlined in the Augmented National Emergency Action Plan in collaboration and recommendations of the partners, including Unicef,” he said.

Dr Afridi said that chief minister and chief secretary oversaw implementation of polio eradication efforts in the province, which was a glaring example of commitment.