MULTAN, Nov 20: A team of the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) has arrived in Rajanpur to ascertain the reasons behind incidence of wild virus polio there.

Health department sources told Dawn on Tuesday that experts from Geneva (Switzerland) constitute the team. The team members rushed to Rajanpur after the report of more than 10 cases of wild virus polio there.

“The number of polio incidences in Rajanpur is not only an alarming situation for the district but also threat to the adjoining areas of neighbouring Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

Officials facilitating the GAVI team told this correspondent that the visitors were surprised to learn that the immunization cover in the district was hardly 15 per cent.

They added that Rajanpur had emerged as one of the most vulnerable areas in the world to polio. “If counter measures are not taken immediately, it might led to the failure of the polio eradication campaign in the country.”

CHILDREN TRUST: The district government should set up a welfare trust and an information technology library for children.

This was recommended by development for education, environment, poverty alleviation and population welfare organization (DEEPP) chief executive Sibtain Raza Lodhi in a press conference, here on Tuesday.

He urged the government to arrange for a formal opening of Multan Civil Hospital Children Complex and demanded that punitive action must be taken against the people involved in embezzlement of the project.

He said the government should establish uniform education system to eliminate social injustice among children in the district.

He also urged the government to set up children clubs in educational institutions to direct students’ participation in extra-curricular activities.

He said the US had inflicted miseries on Afghan children in the name of war against terror. The present situation could bring Pakistani children in a state of shock, he feared.