KARACHI: A six day polio eradication campaign was formally inaugurated at Sobheraj Hospital on Monday. Under this freshly initiated campaign, a total of 1.9 million children aged five or below would be vaccinated in 174 union councils of the metropolis. The inauguration was performed by Karachi Commissioner Muhammad Sualeh Faruqui. Talking to the media after the inaugural, Karachi Commissioner said that the city administration was committed to play its due role in eliminating polio virus from city. He said that polio eradication was a national cause and it would be the top priority of city administration to carry out its efforts for the elimination of polio virus. Faruqui appreciated the role of international partners in polio eradication, and said that he hoped that Pakistan would be a polio free country soon. He said that no child should be missed, for any reason, from a vaccine preventable disease and it was duty of all stakeholders to make sure every child was given polio drops. He said that the government would also work for improvement of micro plan and strategy. “We need to involve community maximum in anti polio programmes and get their full support. Community support based strategy would be developed in this connection,” added Karachi Commissioner. He informed the media that all deputy commissioners had been asked to focus on refusal cases to get rid of this crippling disease and persuade the parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated. He added that all deputy commissioners had also been directed to reach to out those who are not found during the campaign. Deputy commissioner south Muhammad Salahuddin, Commissioner Karachi, polio task force coordinator Dr Nusrat Ali, officials of Health Departments and representatives of WHO and UNICEF were also present on the occasion. CM chairs provincial task force meeting on polio Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister (CM) Fazal-ur-Rehman chaired provincial task force meeting on polio eradication at the CM house on Monday. During the meeting, the chief minister said that he was pleased about the fact that Sindh had not reported a single case of polio in 2018. Commending the efforts of polio eradication officers, front line workers as well as security personnel the CM said that these officials had been instrumental in curtailing the spread of the polio virus in Karachi. On the occasion the coordinator of Sindh Emergency Operation Centre for polio (EOC) Fayaz Jatoi briefed the chief minister regarding the progress made in polio eradication in Sindh and Pakistan. He highlighted the fact that there were 306 polio cases in Pakistan in 2014 out of which 30 cases were reported from Sindh (Karachi 23) but constant efforts and government ownership of the anti polio program resulted in this number coming down to 8 polio across Pakistan in 2017 out of which only 2 were from Sindh (Karachi). He informed the CM that in 2018 there have been no polio cases in Sindh, however 3 polio cases have surfaced in Pakistan which are all from district Dukki in Balochistan. Fayaz Jatoi told the CM that most refusals occurred because of repeated campaigns and misconceptions and the EOC was engaging with the communities on the issue. He requested the CM to support EOC in making schools accept vaccination during polio drives, especially in district West of Karachi where the numbers of refusal schools had increased. In response to this, the caretaker CM directed education department to issue a notification to urge school administrations to welcome Polio teams in administering polio vaccine to school children. Technical Coordinator of Sindh EOC, Shahnaz Wazir Ali told the gathering that the polio program in Pakistan had started in 1994 and it was inaugurated by Shaheed Mohtharma Benazir Bhutto who vaccinated her own children to mark the occasion. She said that, with time, the structures in the healthcare system visa vis polio had strengthened and we were now on the verge of polio eradication. She said that we could not be complacent as long as the virus kept showing up in the environment. Sindh Minister Health, Dr. Sadia Rizwi said that she was very impressed with the way the polio program was structured. Federal Team Lead WHO informed the meeting that every child, regardless of their economic background and routine immunization status needed to be vaccinated during every campaign in order to eradicate polio from the country. Published in Daily Times, July 3rd 2018.