Anti-polio campaign launched in Pakistan

Islamabad, June 29 (IANS) A polio vaccination campaign was launched in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province with a target to vaccinate nearly 1.3 million children, the Provincial Emergency Operation Center said.

Around 9,921 teams have been formed to vaccinate children under the age of five and about 15,000 security personnel will be deployed to protect the polio teams, according to the center.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister of KP Ali Amin Gandapur said on Friday that the country has been focusing on making Pakistan and KP province polio-free, highlighting that no case of polio has been reported so far this year in the province, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that eliminating the polio virus is also among the top priorities of the Pakistani government, adding that all sections of the society needed to play their individual and collective role in ridding the province of the poliovirus.

The Minister said that frontline polio workers are heroes, and parents as well as guardians should fully support door-to-door polio work.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan reported the sixth polio case of this year after the virus was found in a child in southwest Balochistan province, according to the Health Ministry.