![[Pakistan] A mother and child at a WHO polio vaccination centre in NWFP. Mothers are generally keener to vaccinate their children than men. [Date picture taken: 02/04/2007]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20072617.jpg.webp?itok=RWd4lSKf "12.2 million children to be immunised against polio")
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More than 12 million children are to be immunised against polio this week in Pakistan as part of the country’s overall efforts to eradicate the disease.
“This campaign is important, as it is taking place in the high-risk districts of the country,” Melissa Corkum, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN from Peshawar, provincial capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Corkum added that is was critical to reach all children under five years of age ahead of the high transmission season for polio, a debilitating disease that mainly strikes children.
A three-day immunisation campaign began on Tuesday. It is the second this year in 38 high-risk districts throughout the country and involving almost 31,000 vaccinators working door-to-door.
According to Corkum, the campaign in the southern city of Karachi - one of the high-risk areas – will be delayed until the first week of June due to security concerns following political violence this month in the city of more than 14 million people.
“The main challenge to polio eradication is operational – this includes reaching populations to whom access is hampered either due to population movements, or due to areas of insecurity, or in some tribal areas due to cultural conservatism,” the UNICEF official said.
To address these issues, UNICEF, in collaboration with its partners at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pakistan Health Ministry, has worked hard to ensure the participation of teams from the areas being targeted, and to involve female health workers as much as possible.
Additionally, the children’s agency has been mapping population movements to ensure children on the move are also reached. This involved the establishment of hundreds of immunisation posts at transit or ‘choke’ points along the country’s 2,430-km porous border with Afghanistan.
“A lot of effort has gone into preparations for the upcoming campaign, including training, social mobilisation and micro-planning - taking into consideration data from previous campaigns,” Corkum said.
“The opportunity to eradicate polio is strong,” she said, adding that most parts of Pakistan were now polio-free.
An estimated 85 percent of the country’s 123 districts have been polio-free for the past two years, while 60 percent of all cases in 2006 were confined to just six districts.
Since 1998, no case has been recorded in the country’s Federally Administered Northern Areas, and no case has been registered in Pakistani-administered Kashmir since 2000. The capital, Islamabad, has been polio-free since 2003.
According to WHO, the world's success in eradicating polio depends on four countries where the virus remains endemic - India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 2006, there were 40 confirmed cases of polio in Pakistan and 31 in Afghanistan. This year, there have been no reported cases of polio in Afghanistan but seven in Pakistan. Of these, three were in the country's south-eastern Sindh province, two were in NWFP and two in south-western Balochistan.
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“This campaign is important, as it is taking place in the high-risk districts of the country,” Melissa Corkum, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN from Peshawar, provincial capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Corkum added that is was critical to reach all children under five years of age ahead of the high transmission season for polio, a debilitating disease that mainly strikes children.
A three-day immunisation campaign began on Tuesday. It is the second this year in 38 high-risk districts throughout the country and involving almost 31,000 vaccinators working door-to-door.
According to Corkum, the campaign in the southern city of Karachi - one of the high-risk areas – will be delayed until the first week of June due to security concerns following political violence this month in the city of more than 14 million people.
| More on polio in Pakistan |
To address these issues, UNICEF, in collaboration with its partners at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pakistan Health Ministry, has worked hard to ensure the participation of teams from the areas being targeted, and to involve female health workers as much as possible.
Additionally, the children’s agency has been mapping population movements to ensure children on the move are also reached. This involved the establishment of hundreds of immunisation posts at transit or ‘choke’ points along the country’s 2,430-km porous border with Afghanistan.
“A lot of effort has gone into preparations for the upcoming campaign, including training, social mobilisation and micro-planning - taking into consideration data from previous campaigns,” Corkum said.
 The opportunity to eradicate polio is strong |
An estimated 85 percent of the country’s 123 districts have been polio-free for the past two years, while 60 percent of all cases in 2006 were confined to just six districts.
Since 1998, no case has been recorded in the country’s Federally Administered Northern Areas, and no case has been registered in Pakistani-administered Kashmir since 2000. The capital, Islamabad, has been polio-free since 2003.
According to WHO, the world's success in eradicating polio depends on four countries where the virus remains endemic - India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 2006, there were 40 confirmed cases of polio in Pakistan and 31 in Afghanistan. This year, there have been no reported cases of polio in Afghanistan but seven in Pakistan. Of these, three were in the country's south-eastern Sindh province, two were in NWFP and two in south-western Balochistan.
ds/at/ar/ed
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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