Islamabad, A comprehensive nation-wide anti-Polio campaign commences today (Monday) across Pakistan, targeting children under the age of five. This significant health drive involves door-to-door visits by Polio teams from the health department, aiming to administer polio drops to millions of children in various regions of the country.
According to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the campaign’s duration and scale vary across different provinces and regions. In Punjab, a week-long polio campaign is set to vaccinate over twenty-three million children, with Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan identified as the most sensitive cities for this initiative. Similarly, in Sindh, approximately ten million children are scheduled to receive the anti-polio vaccine over the course of a week.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign will run for five days, targeting over seven million children. Azad Jammu and Kashmir aim to vaccinate over seven hundred thousand children in their five-day campaign. In Balochistan, the week-long drive plans to administer anti-polio drops to more than two and a half million children. Gilgit-Baltistan also joins this health initiative, with a goal of vaccinating over two hundred fifty thousand children during their five-day campaign.
The campaign underscores the government’s commitment to eradicating polio and ensuring the health and safety of its youngest citizens. To address any gaps in the campaign’s reach, the health department has provided a helpline (1166) for parents whose homes have not been visited by a polio team, ensuring that no child is left behind in this crucial health drive.