Karachi: Commissioner Karachi, Syed Hassan Naqvi visited Manghopir on Thursday and reviewed the ongoing polio vaccination campaign.
‘Special attention is being given to the6 vaccination of children whose parents have previously refused vaccination,’ the Commissioner said.
It was decided that the assistance of Union Council chairmen, councillors, other elected local government representatives and administrative officers would be sought to ensure the vaccination of all missed and refusal children.
The Karachi administration has decided that, in the affected and low-coverage Union Councils of the city, polio teams under the supervision of the district administration will directly contact parents to ensure that all eligible children are vaccinated. Local government representatives will play an active role in persuading parents and ensuring 100 percent vaccination of refusal and missed children.
Commissioner Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi stated this while addressing a meeting with elected local government representatives, organised by the Town Municipal Administration Manghopir at Naya Nazimabad Gymkhana.
Polio Task Force Coordinator Saud Yaqub, Additional Deputy Commissioner West Syed Jahangir Shah, Town Municipal Administration Chairman Nawaz Brohi, other elected representatives and officers were also present at the meeting.
The Commissioner said significant progress was being made in efforts to eliminate poliovirus from Karachi. He appreciated the efforts of the Sindh Health Department, saying that nine out of 12 environmental samples collected in the city had rapidly turned negative, while efforts were continuing to bring the remaining samples to zero as well.
He said polio was a major public health challenge and all stakeholders were working together for its eradication. The Sindh government and Karachi administration were treating polio eradication as a national cause and, under the supervision of Deputy Commissioners, were making coordinated efforts with the Health Department and international partners in accordance with all required protocols.
The Commissioner said that poliovirus remained endemic in only two countries in the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Karachi was considered an important centre for the spread of the virus in Pakistan. In this context, achieving high vaccination coverage during every campaign in Karachi, particularly in Manghopir, was of critical importance.
He said that, for the first time, a distinctive strategy was being adopted in Manghopir Town to make the polio campaign more effective and result-oriented. Under the strategy, teams had been divided into three zones, while elected local government representatives had been assigned the responsibility of meeting parents and ensuring vaccination of children whose families had refused vaccination.
According to the handout, three teams in Manghopir Town were conducting door-to-door visits to ensure complete coverage. The assistance of religious scholars and leaders was also being sought. Through their support, awareness would be created through mosques regarding the importance of administering polio drops to children.
The Commissioner said chairmen and councillors were cooperating in this effort. He urged them to assist the administration in achieving the target of vaccinating all children.
He said Union Council chairmen and councillors had been provided with complete lists, including names and addresses, of refusal and missed children as well as households with low vaccination coverage in their respective areas.
The meeting was informed that councillors of UC-14 and adjoining wards had been assigned a target of 83 children, most of whom had been covered during the past three days. There were still 45 children whose families had refused vaccination during the previous six campaigns. Councillors were making special efforts to reach these children by using their personal influence and contacts within the community.
According to details, representatives of the White Garments Zone have been assigned the largest refusal target of 207 children, who are being approached through door-to-door visits.
In Abbas Town and other wards, under the supervision of Qari Abdullah and Taus Khan, more than 46 of the 143 targeted children have already been covered, while daily visits are being made to the homes of the remaining children in coordination with community mobilisers.
Community members, local influencers and elders of the neighbourhood will accompany Community Block Officers in the field for at least one to one-and-a-half hours every day. Their involvement will help address the concerns, negative perceptions and misconceptions among people regarding polio vaccination.
In the end, local government representatives and the administration expressed their resolve to devote all their efforts during the next four to five days of the short campaign exclusively to ensuring a safe and polio-free future for children.