Anti-Polio Campaign Falls Short of It's Goal

Sources state that the three phases of the national anti-polio campaign in January “failed” to meet their objectives.

Up to 44.2% of kids under the age of five are reportedly inhaling anti-polio drops, but the goal was not reached, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. During the three-phase campaign across the nation, up to 552,256 kids were left without anti-polio drops. 3,586 children in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 14,309 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 179,128 children in Punjab, 137,532 in Sindh, 135,557 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 77,435 in Balochistan, and 3,586 in Punjab were still polio-unimmunized.

403,559 youngsters were not accessible for three phases of the anti-polio drive, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, and 86,286 children were missed during the anti-polio drive in various locations.

According to officials within the health ministry, poliovirus was identified in the first month of 2023 in environmental samples taken in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.

The genetic diagnostic of the virus is currently proceeding, the sources added. In the sewage sample taken from Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Ravi, Type-1 wild poliovirus, according to sources, was found. On January 3, sewage samples were gathered by the health teams from several Lahore neighborhoods.

Punjab saw the start of a five-day anti-polio campaign on January 16. The health authorities had set a target of immunizing more than 22 million children under the age of five in addition to sending 84,500 mobile teams and two lakh polio workers for the campaign, which will last through January 20. On January 10, in the Civil Secretariat, the Provincial Taskforce on Polio Eradication met under the leadership of Punjab Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal and Punjab Health Minister Dr. Akhtar Malik.

All divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated via video link, and the meeting was attended by the secretary of primary health, Dr. Irshad Ahmed, as well as representatives of foreign organizations fighting to eradicate polio and pertinent offices.

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The campaign throughout the districts will be personally overseen by the deputy commissioners, per Dr. Akhtar Malik’s instructions. In high-risk areas, such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad, he emphasized the need for 100% coverage. According to a directive given to the deputy commissioners by Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal, the Lot Quality Assessment Survey (LQAS) success rate must be at least 95%.