PESHAWAR:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Imdadullah Bosal on Wednesday underlined the need for augmenting efforts by all the stakeholders to ensure the eradication of polio virus from the last endemic region and protect children from permanent disabilities.
He said this while chairing the maiden meeting of Provincial Task Force (PTF) for polio eradication, said a press release issued here.
He said that a lot of efforts, coordination and resources go into every round of anti-polio campaign and it was important to ensure optimal use and benefits of all these efforts by ensuring a strict monitoring and accountability system in place at all levels.
He thanked all the partners and Provincial Emergency Operations Center for the sustained efforts and containing the spread of virus to other districts saying that provincial government would continue to support the polio eradication efforts till it’s elimination.
Earlier, Additional Secretary Health Polio Eradication/ Coordinator EOC, Asif Rahim briefed the forum in detail about the ongoing February round of anti-polio campaign in the province, epidemiology and surveillance updates, updated status of environmental sites, performance of campaign in southern KP, intensified extended outreach activities (EOAs), new interventions adopted by provincial EOC to get the desired results in terms of improved reporting from field and coverage of missed children.
He also oriented the forum about the new interventions including ring strategy introduced in the Mehsud belt of South Waziristan, new campaign modality three plus two according to the ground situation, Extended outreach activities (EOAs), positive environmental sites, mop ups, streamlining the reporting, presence and corrective actions by campaign monitors.
The forum discussed the challenges faced in reaching remote and high risk areas of the province and developed a plan to overcome these challenges.
It was also stressed to build better coordination and collaboration among different stakeholders involved in the polio eradication campaign and develop a plan to strengthen partnerships and communication among them.
In his concluding remarks, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emphasized the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage and continuing surveillance activities to ensure the sustained success of the polio eradication programme in the province.
Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs, Secretary Information, Secretary Health, representative of Pak Army and Police Department, Additional Secretary Health for Polio Eradication / Coordinator EOC Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Asif Rahim, Deputy Coordinator EOC, Muhammad Zeeshan Khan, Director General Health Services KP, Director EPI, Senior Consultant CDC, Dr Rana Safdar, Team Leaders UNICEF and WHO participated in the meeting.
All the divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners joined the forum virtually.