Peshawar: A special campaign to cover the children that remained unvaccinated in the recently concluded anti-polio drive in the province will start from Thursday in Dir Lower, informed Emergency Operations Center Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (EOC). EOC Coordinator Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Atif Rehman, while chairing a meeting here Wednesday at EOC to review the status of the recently concluded campaign, informed that polio campaign was stopped in some union councils of Lower Dir due to security threats and on the request of the district. Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, Polio Team Leader Dr Johar, WHO Team Lead Dr Abdi Nasir, Team Lead N Stop Dr Syed Ijaz Ali Shah and technical experts were also present on the occasion. The meeting was informed that due to postponement of the campaign 87,000 children could not be administered polio drops In Dir Lower out of the total target of the district which stand at 293,204. A special campaign therefore to vaccinate the remaining children is planned from January 3, 2018 in the remaining UCs of Dir Lower for which 963 total teams have been constituted out of which 829 were mobile teams, 70 fixed, 46 transit and 18 roaming teams. Special security measures have been taken to ensure safety to polio teams and more than 2400 polio personnel have been deployed at various plugging points to provide security cover to the teams. Speaking on the occasion, Coordinator EOC Atif Rehman directed the district administration to ensure vaccination to every child in the district besides ensuring safe and conducive environment to the teams on ground. He also urged the parents and every section of society to cooperate with the government in vaccinating children and help it stamp out the crippling disease for good from the region. He reiterated the strong resolve of the government for taking every measure for polio eradication from the country and to protect the children from lifelong disability. Atif Rehman paid rich tributes to the Sehat Muhafiz, who were the frontline workers in the war against polio, saying that the tremendous achievements in polio eradication will not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the teams on ground. It is relevant to mention here that the December round of anti-polio campaign was held in 17 high risk districts of the province included Bannu, Charsadda, Chitral, D.I.Khan, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Hangu, Karak, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Malakand, Mardan, Nowshera, Peshawar, Swabi, Swat and Tank. The country has recorded eight polio cases in 2017 with one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from Gilgit Baltistan, one from Punjab, two from Sindh and three from Balochistan. Published in Daily Times, January 4th 2018.