ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Federal Minister for Sports, Culture and Tourism S K Tressler has inaugurated a three-day countrywide polio vaccination and vitamin A supplement campaign here on Tuesday.
The inauguration ceremony was held at National Institute of Health (NIH) in which the federal minister kicked off the drive by administering polio drops to children below the age of five years. Health officials claim over 30 million children will be administered polio and vitamin A drops by 70,000 special trained teams during the campaign which would conclude on Thursday.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of health professionals, Unicef Representative Carrol Long, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative Dr Khalif Bile, Health Secretary Ijaz Rahim, NWFP Minister for Religious Affairs Qari Roohullah, Executive Director of the NIH DR Athar Dil, Director- General (Health) Mohammad Aslam and renowned playwright Fatima Surraya Bajiya.
Speaking on the occasion, the federal minister, SK Tressler, expressed the government’s resolve to make Pakistan a polio-free country as early as possible. Pakistan is among those 17 countries where polio virus is still present. “We will soon join the club of 175 countries of the world, which have eradicated the disease with the active participation of masses,” the minister said.
The minister stressed the need for enhancing the efforts to eradicate the disease and make it sure that each and every children was vaccinated.
Mr Tressler said this year only 69 cases of polio had been reported in Pakistan. He said the government had geared up its efforts to make the drive a success. He said provision of health facilities to children was the cornerstone of progress and development of any society and they had the right to life and a right to be protected against diseases. Therefore, programmes aimed at protecting their health and safeguarding them against diseases needed to be given top priority, he added.
He lauded the valuable support extended to the government by its partner agencies, including Japan, CDC Atlanta, Department for International Development (UK), WHO, Unicef and Rotary International.
The federal minister also stressed the need for taking effective steps to stop cross-border transmission of the polio virus due to huge influx of Afghan refugees into the country.
He asked the health workers and officials of the health department to ensure that no child was missed during the three-day drive.
The health secretary, Ijaz Rahim, disclosed that Pakistan was spending 25 million US dollars per year on child protection activities and an additional 10 to 13 million US dollars per year on polio eradication. He said out of 122 districts in Pakistan, 100 had been totally cleansed of the polio virus. He said the government had made additional arrangements to extend the polio vaccination drive to the refugees, settled in the NWFP and Balochistan. For this purpose, special teems had been appointed at various refugees camps such as Torkham and Chaman borders so that refugees should be vaccinated soon after their arrival in the camps.
The WHO representative, Dr Khalif Bile, stressed the need for creating awareness among the people about the disease.
Fatima Surrayya Bajiya regretted people were engaged in war when there was lot more to be done for their betterment. She said while the entire world was moving in an altogether different direction, she was proud to be the part of a gathering where the welfare of children was being planned and discussed.
Rawalpindi Bureau add: Over 500,000 children will be administered polio and vitamin A drops during the drive in Rawalpindi district. The campaign was inaugurated by the executive district officer (health), Syed Talat Iqbal, at the Integrated Primary Healthcare Centre in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Rawalpindi.
According to the health officials, the district has been divided into nine zones for the campaign. In Rawalpindi tehsil, there are three zones — city, cantonment and rural areas. The other zones are two in Wah and Taxila and one each in Kahuta, Gujar Khan, Murree and Kotli Sattian.
The vaccination task in these zones will be accomplished by 1,373 teams, each comprising two members. It has been learnt that 549 teams have been assigned urban areas, 446 given rural areas, 173 have been allocated remote hilly areas of Murree, Kotli Sattian and Kahuta tehsils and 42 teams would be looking after the public places.
According to the official hierarchy of the vaccination teams, there will be 162 area in-charges, 34 zonal supervisors and seven tehsil superintendents. The administration has also provided 367 motorcycles and 40 other vehicles for the campaign.
The Rawalpindi district has been identified as one of the high risk areas due to high population density, rapid growth in population, particularly due to migration of people from adjoining rural areas and presence of large refugee community.
Health officials said the decision to involve newly- elected local leadership in the vaccination campaign had been taken to motivate the local community and build confidence of the common man.
They appreciated the role of the media in motivating the masses.
However, they pointed out that the response of the less-educated and poor classes had been much more positive than that of affluent classes.
Replying to a question regarding the problems faced by vaccination teams in affluent residential areas due to the non- cooperative attitude of the inhabitants, the officials said special teams had been constituted to tackle the situation.
Union council Nazims and councillors had been given monitoring and supervisory role to ensure better vaccination coverage, besides facilitating the campaign.
The significance of this year’s campaign is that in contrast to the past practice of hiring volunteers from private sectors, all volunteers have been drawn from various government departments and given extensive training.