A five-day anti–polio campaign began in all districts of Balochistan on Sunday. Coordinator Emergency Operation Centre Balochistan Rashid Razzaq told the media that more than 2.4 million children up to five years of age would be administered anti-polio drops during the drive.
He said for this purpose more than 10,000 teams have been constituted to administer drops to the children during door to door drive. The polio eradication programme has put strict measures in place for all staff following the government’s set guidelines on Covid-19 preventative measures.
The polio vaccination campaign in Balochistan was earlier postponed due to a protest by the government employees. Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with Afghanistan. The country is facing a challenging situation in polio eradication with the upsurge in the number of polio cases.
In 2020, 83 polio cases were reported across the country, including 24 from Balochistan, 22 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and 14 from Punjab.