Five-day polio eradication drive to begin in KP from February 3

PESHAWAR: The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) has set a target of administering polio vaccines to 6.5 million children during the five-day polio eradication drive, set to begin in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from February 3.

According to the centre, 40,000 teams have been formed while 50,000 security personnel have been deployed to ensure the safety of polio teams. The anti-polio drive is to be conducted in all KP districts.

In December last year, a policeman was martyred in Shakar Khel area of Karak district of Kohat Division while on security duty of the anti-polio campaign team.

A record 70 poliovirus cases have been reported in Pakistan in the past year, while 420 polio cases have been reported from the entire country in the past nine years. Another case of poliovirus had been confirmed from Karachi and was counted among the tally for 2024, which is 70 for 2024.

Over the past 12 years, Pakistan has spent over USD11 billion to eradicate polio to no avail. In addition to this, Pakistan has also received one-billion-dollars from international donors in five years to combat the poliovirus.

The poliovirus is currently present in only two countries across the world – Pakistan and Afghanistan. The global polio eradication campaign was launched in 1988 when polio was paralysing over 1,000 children every day. Almost all countries started the war against polio together, which eventually led to a 99 percent reduction in polio cases in merely a few years. More than 2.5 billion children have been fully vaccinated against polio in the ongoing war against polio.

Polio vaccination certificate now required for all UC documents

Since December last year, the issuance of Union Council certificates including marriage, divorce, birth and death certificates are being subjected to polio vaccination certificate in KP.

The official certificates will not be issued without proof of polio vaccination, said provincial health department. The polio vaccination certificate from the District Health Office (DHO) has now been made mandatory, the health department said.

Moreover, the village councils and the neighborhood councils have been barred from issuing certificates without a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the DHO office. The health department officials said that this step has been taken to bind parents who refuse to get polio vaccination.

The decision to make the polio certificate mandatory was taken in a recent meeting chaired by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary. Officials said that thousands of children across several districts of the province have been deprived of anti-polio vaccination. Parents still refuse to give anti-polio vaccination to their children which necessitated this measure, the health department said.