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PESHAWAR, Nov 17 (APP):The twelve-day campaign (Nov 17 to 29) for vaccination of 6.4 million children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Measles and Rubella diseases has been kicked off here on Monday.
Provincial Minister for Health, Khaleeq-ur-Rehman, was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony held here at a Girls’ High School on Warsak Road.
Advisor to Chief Minister on Information, Shafi Jan, Chief Secretary KP, Shahab Ali Shah, Secretary Health, Shahid Ullah, Director EPI, Dr. Muhammad Asghar, Team Lead Unicef KP, Dr. Inam, and other officials were present at the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Provincial Minister for Health said the special campaign for administering Measles and Rubella has been launched at the national level to cover around 36 million children aged six to 59 months across the country.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he continued, 6.4 million children will be administered a preventive vaccine against these diseases affecting the health of children.
A total of 6500 vaccinating teams are taking part in this twelve-day immunization campaign, he added.
In 2024, Khaleeq-ur-Rehman added that around 13000 cases of measles were reported in the province with around 25 deaths.
Similarly, at the country level, around 131,000 measles cases have been reported during the last three years.
Pakistan ranks among the top five countries in the world with the highest burden of these most contagious diseases.
He said coverage of 6.4 million children could not be reached without the cooperation of people from all segments of society.
He also urged the media to play an effective role in spreading awareness about the importance of vaccination in the prevention of measles and rubella diseases among children.
Chief Secretary KP, Shahad Ali Shah in his speech said that health is on top of the list in the reform policy of KP government.
He said several initiatives have been taken to bring improvement in the health sector, and for this purpose, special focus has been placed on upgrading medical care at district-level hospitals.
The KP government has also passed an Immunization Policy for increasing the vaccination coverage in the province upto 75 percent.
He said the provincial government is spending around Rs. 275 billion on an annual basis on the health sector with the objective of providing better medical care to people and on prevention of illnesses.
In KP, he continued, there are 450 primary health units and work is in programme to ensure round-the-clock mother and new born care in these units round the clock.
Similarly, the government is also struggling to ensure the availability of medicine at all the District Health Offices along with doctors.
He also disclosed that a new teaching hospital will be built in Peshawar to lower the burden on other big hospitals of the province.
In response to a question about refusal by parents during the measles and rubella vaccination campaign, the Chief Secretary said committees have been constituted for response to refusals. These committees, he continued, will visit to meet and convince the refusing parents.
Monitoring of vaccination will also be conducted on a daily basis in the offices of the Chief Secretary, Deputy Commissioners, and EPI officials to ensure maximum coverage.
During the campaign, apart from administering of MR vaccine to 6,423,877 children, around 5,246,820 children will also be given OPV (Oral polio vaccine) drops in 27 districts.
The ceremony was also addressed by Advisor to Chief Minister KP on Information, Shafi Jan, who also highlighted different measures taken by the government for improving the healthcare system in the province.