- Advertisement -
PESHAWAR, Jul 26 (APP):Media professionals have reaffirmed their commitment of supporting Pakistan’s fight against polio by raising public awareness and dispelling harmful misconceptions hampering immunization of vulnerable population.
This pledge from media persons came during a two days engagement session with health beat reporters on polio eradication organized by Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at scenic Natiagali valley of Abbotabad.
The session was attended by around 50 journalists from Peshawar along with Chairman Peshawar Press Club, M. Riaz and General Secretary, Tayyab Usman.
Unicef Polio Team Lead KP, Inuwa Yau was also present on the occasion along with other officials of EOC, WHO and Health Department.
Welcoming the participants, Coordinator EOC KP, Shafiullah Khan said media has very crucial role in highlighting importance of vaccination among people especially parents.
Terming polio eradication as `national emergency’, Coordinator ECO KP urged media persons to fully take part in this national cause of making our country free of the crippling disease and for saving millions of minors from permanent disability.
Shafiullah Khan said achieving the goal of Polio Free Pakistan is not possible without cooperation from all segments of society and in this connection EOC garner supports from health professionals, media persons, religious scholars, teachers, social media influencers and security forces.
“Through collective effort this war can be won as Pakistan and Afghanistan forms the only polio disease epidemiological block in the world”, he commented.
The engagement session is also aimed at obtaining suggestions from media persons as how the awareness campaigns can be made more effective and impactful, he continued.
Communication Officer Unicef, Shadab Younas said media role is very important in sensitization of masses about importance of administering polio drops to their children.
She said media can serve as a catalyst in convincing people about importance of immunization and in demystifying the myths that are causing refusals in some areas.
Shadab also made a presentation on effective and impactful reporting on polio eradication by focusing on data driven authentic motivational stories and avoiding misleading and damaging reports.
Provincial Polio Officer WHO, Dr. Sardar Alam apprised journalists about the measures being taken under Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), its achievement and hurdles in some area due to misconceptions.
In Pakistan, he continued, this year (2025) a total of 14 cases of polio infection are reported, out of which maximum number of eight cases are reported in KP.
While in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he continued, the number of zero dose children who missed immunization are registered as around 58,319 till mid May 2025.
This figure of missing children needs continued and more effective efforts not only by Health officials but all the stakeholders to bring them in the immunization data, he Dr. Alam stressed.
An extensive group exercise session was also held engaging media persons in different groups to hold threadbare discussion and suggest measures for improving initiatives for amplifying public awareness.
President Peshawar Press Club, M. Riaz termed the interaction very fruitful and expressed the hope that participants will realize the importance of media role in saving our children from polio infection which is not only crippling but in some cases causes mortality.
Riaz held out assurance of full cooperation of community members and Peshawar Press Club will the relevant departments taking part in this fight against polio.
Eradicating polio is a national cause in which media men are already taking part and will increase their input in future, he added.
Unicef Polio Team Lead KP, Inunea Yau thanked media persons for their participation in the engagement session and urged them to fully cooperate in polio eradication initiative.
He said misconceptions that are causing hindrances in achieving 100 percent immunization can only be removed through educating people and in this regard media has to play a key role.
He also supported suggestion of holding interactive session between EOC and media on quarterly basis.