Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) will be made Polio free by end of December 2016.

Still 30,000 children were missed during the campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while around forty security forces personnel, Polio frontline workers and doctors give sacrifices while performing their duties.

This was stated by Coordinator Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Akbar Khan while addressing a press briefing here Monday in connection with World Polio day being observed globally on October 24.

Khan said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has made substantial progress in polio eradication with 60 percent decrease in reporting of cases compared to last year and significantly contains virus transmission to Peshawar Khyber Block.

More than 40 polio workers rendered sacrifices while performing their duties including 17 security forces, 5 volunteers, 14 polio workers, and 11 government officials including two doctors,
he added.

Polio eradication is not a health emergency,but a national emergency and therefore requires every line department, organisation and individual to play due role in achieving this goal, Akbar Khan said, adding that Emergency Operations Centre Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Department of Health and technical partners UNICEF, WHO and Rotary International stand committed to the cause of polio eradication and renews its commitment on World Polio Day to stop polio transmission in the region
and protect children from
lifelong disability.

He informed media that EOC Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has arranged a number of activities to mark the day including seminars, walks, quiz competitions and media briefings to muster public support for polio eradication and to show governments’ commitment and serious efforts towards achieving the goal.

Sharing successes and challenges in achieving the goal of polio eradication by 2016, Akbar Khan said that the number of refusals have dropped from 50000 in 2013 to 2800 in the last anti-polio campaign while missed children have decreased from 135, 139 to 30000 showing a decline of 78 percent, he added.

Regarding environmental samples, he informed that 42.5 percent of samples were positive in 2014, 19.23 percent in 2015 and 10.14 in 2016 so far which shows that virus transmission has stopped except in few areas of Peshawar from where the samples are collected.

The passing percentage of Lot Quality Assurance Survey (LQAS) has also improved from 59 percent in 2014 to 80 percent in 2016, he added.

Akbar Khan urged media to help and support the final push to achieve eradication now as the goal has never been closer or the country will face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable millions of children within a decade.

It is an opportunity to gear up our efforts to fight this scourge with unwavering determination and firm resolve to reach the finishing line by the end of 2016, he maintained.

Khan said that the province has never been closer to polio eradication and it’s the
right time to capitalize on the achievements already made in this regard.

However, he went on to add that technical experts believe that continued vigilance and efforts are needed to protect these gains and ensure that polio cases do not jump again and to stop re-emergence of polio virus.

Commenting on the symptoms and causes of the disease, Team Leader Polio for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Jaohar Khan said that polio is a highly contagious virus that causes irreversible paralysis, usually in
the legs.

Deputy Director EPI Dr Hameed Afridi, District Health Officer Dr Ayub Rose, Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah and relevant officials of UNICEF and health department were present on the occasion.

World Polio Day observed in Landi Kotal: Like elsewhere in the “World Polio Day” was observed in Khyber Agency with pledge to wipe out curse of polio from the tribal belt.

In this connection polio awareness walk was carried out from hospital square on Monday to create consciousness among the tribesmen regarding polio eradication campaign.

The activity was organized under the auspices of health department Khyber Agency with the assistance of United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Beside Agency Surgeon, DrNiaz Afridi, Medical Superintendent DrZer Alam Shinwari,UNICEF official Nisar Khan,tehsildar Landi Kotal,Irshad Mohmand, health officials, large numbers of tribesmen and members of civil society participated in the march.

The participants while holding banners inscribed with slogans pertaining elimination of the cripple disease and marched from the agency headquarter hospital to Iqra Chowk.

Nisar Khan,UNICEF official said that like previous years, world polio day has been observed with objective to eliminate the sickness and to make Pakistan free of polio.

Meanwhile a seven days long anti-polio drive was kicked off on Monday in all three tehsils of Khyber Agency.

Providing details, Agency Surgeon Dr Niaz Afridi said that 750 teams comprised mobile, transit and fixed teams under the direction of 250 supervisors had been constituted to visit door to door and feed anti-polio drops to 223000 children below five years in though out Khyber including Maidan Bazaar,the remote area of Tirah Valley.