ISLAMABAD, Oct 25 (NNN-APP) – Pakistan, yesterday, kicked off a week-long nationwide anti-polio vaccination campaign, in an effort to eradicate the crippling disease, according to government health officials.
During the week-long anti-polio campaign, millions of children under the age of five would be administered polio drops, Minister for National Health Services, Abdul Qadir Patel, said, appealing to parents to cooperate in making the country polio-free.
Thousands of anti-polio workers will be engaged in the drive, to inoculate the children at their doorstep, in all four provinces of the country, with special focus on children living in flood-affected areas.
The vaccination will be carried out in 28 districts of the north-west Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and 14 districts of the eastern Punjab province, while around 6.5 million children in the southern Sindh province and over 1.7 million in the south-west Balochistan province, will be given polio vaccine drops during the campaign.
Pakistan recorded 20 cases of polio, so far, this year, and all the cases were detected in the KP province, bordering Afghanistan, according to government officials.– NNN-APP