21 mn Pakistani children to get anti-polio drops
January 20th, 2010 - 3:19 pm ICT by IANSIslamabad, Jan 20 (IANS) Twenty-one million children below the age of five will receive anti-polio drops in 73 high-risk districts of Pakistan in a three-day campaign that concludes Thursday.
Quoting an official of the health ministry’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Geo News reported Wednesday that 45,000 vaccination teams across country would administer the drops.
Of the districts where the campaign is being conducted, 22 are in Sindh, 17 are in Balochistan, 15 in the North West Frontier Province, 13 in Punjab and five in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The drops are also being administered in this federal capital.
Pakistan had targeted becoming polio-free by 2010 but the country’s first case of the new year was confirmed Monday in a nine-month-old.
The National Institute of Health confirmed the polio virus in a child identified as Bushra, a resident of FATA’s Bara district.
Pakistan had 117 confirmed polio cases in 2009.
Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only four countries in the world where the disease is prevalent.
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- Faltering on polio, Pakistan looks at India lesson - Mar 02, 2012
- Polio under control but India aims at eradication: Azad - Oct 23, 2011
- 'Low chances of polio coming to India from Pakistan' - May 31, 2012
- Over 16,000 Pakistani kids not given polio drops - Aug 04, 2011
- 'Ensure regular vaccination to make India polio free' - Feb 23, 2012
- Over five lakh Pakistani kids to get polio drops - Nov 04, 2010
- Over 17 crore kids get polio vaccine - Feb 19, 2012
- Two held in Pakistan for refusing polio drops - Sep 21, 2011
- Polio endemic countries hopeful for eradicating virus - Feb 26, 2012
- Community mobilisers inch closer towards making India polio-free - Jan 31, 2011
- Bill Gates discusses polio, other health related issues in Pakistan with Zardari - Apr 07, 2011
- A year of no polio: India triumphs, but risks remains (Lead) - Jan 11, 2012
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