PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan launched a five-day anti-polio campaign across the province by administering polio drops to a child here on Monday.

Over 6.4 million children below the age of five years would be vaccinated against poliovirus.

A total of 28,681 teams have been deployed for the purpose, including 25,579 mobile, 1,868 fixed, 1,104 transit and 130 roaming teams.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahmood termed the complete eradication of poliovirus from the province as top priority of his government. He said the provincial government, in collaboration with the partner organisations, was taking concrete steps under a well-devised strategy to eliminate the childhood disease from KP. He expressed the hope that his government’s efforts would soon see the province polio-free.

The chief minister said teams had been trained to observe SOPs to avoid the spread of coronavirus during the campaign. He said last year the province witnessed increase in polio cases due to the coronavirus pandemic, but of late there had been a considerable reduction in cases due to a focused approach by his government to eliminate the childhood ailment effectively. The chief minister urged all the stakeholders to join hands with his government to eradicate poliovirus and give a safe future to the next generation.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2020