RAWALPINDI, Sep 06 (APP): Provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Health and Population Welfare Punjab Dr Jamal Nasir on Wednesday said that the World Health Organization (WHO) had played a key role in eradicating the Polio virus from Pakistan and with the support of WHO, Pakistan would be declared a Polio-free country soon.
He said this while inaugurating the Anti-Polio drive field office at the District Health Authority Rawalpindi building along with WHO representative in Pakistan Dr. Pleetha Mahipala.
Dr Jamal said that WHO was playing a crucial role in eliminating the crippling disease and the establishment of a Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) field office will further strengthen the anti-polio campaigns.
The minister informed that a case response anti-polio drive had been launched in two districts of the province Lahore and Rawalpindi on September 4 after the detection of the virus in the environmental samples.
He said that around 787,000 children under five years of age would be vaccinated against Polio in Rawalpindi during the campaign.
On the occasion WHO representative Dr Pleetha Mahipala said that the establishment of the PEI field office aimed to make Pakistan free from the Polio virus.
He said that Polio was being eradicated due to WHO’s exemplary actions worldwide.
The official of the district health authority on the occasion briefed that Rawalpindi’s population was about 6.2 million, of which 1.01 million were children.
He briefed that the last case of polio was reported in Rawalpindi district in 2010, while a case response campaign was underway following poor environmental samples.
Coordinator to Health Minister Punjab Dr Ansar Ishaq, CEO of District Health Authority Rawalpindi Dr Ijaz Ahmed, DHO Dr Ehsan Ghani, Coordinator of WHO District Rawalpindi Dr Shumaila and others were also present.