Karachi: A two-day anti-polio campaign was launched in Peshawar on Monday amidst tight security.
More than 700,000 children in the province need to be administered the oral polio vaccine in 92 union councils of Peshawar.
According to the health department, 460 fixed and 2955 mobile teams have been formed for the door-to-door anti-polio campaign.
The anti-polio campaign was scheduled for May 28 but it was delayed due to the security situation.
Earlier, in June, the meeting of Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the World Health Organisation came to the outcome that Operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan had played a decisive role in bringing down the number of polio cases.
An official told Dawn, “In less than a year, polio cases in Fata alone have dropped to just seven in 2015 from 179 during the same period in 2014, showing tremendous progress in eradication of the crippling disease in the area, which has been the prime source of transmission of the virus to the rest of the country.”
According to official figures, Pakistan had 306 polio cases in 2014 and majority cases were in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But now, there are only 24 countrywide cases so far in 2015 with just seven from Fata.
Earlier in March, Bill Gates, philanthropist and chairman of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, called Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and appreciated his efforts in running a successful anti-polio campaign in KP.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries battling to eradicate polio.
