KARACHI: Rotary Ambassador for Polio Aseefa Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday stressed the need for making concerted efforts to eradicate the crippling disease from the country.
Inaugurating the anti-polio campaign in Karachi’s Shah Faisal Colony health centre by administering polio drops to children and distributing gifts among them, she said, “We must give the campaign top priority. I appeal to parents to come forward and get their children vaccinated. There have been major improvements in the polio programme, but we must not rest till we eradicate polio completely,” she said.
Pakistan has come a long way in polio eradication since the 1990s, from hundreds of cases of polio to only two polio cases so far in 2017. Out of the two cases this year, none are from Sindh.
Aseefa also interacted with mothers at the health facility and asked them about the problems they faced in their communities. She vowed to help resolve their issues, such as lack of sanitation facilities and clean drinking water.
For this, she requested the Korangi deputy commissioner to look into the matter and address it.
The polio campaign in Karachi will continue until May 27, with a target of covering approximately 2.3 million children under the age of five years in all 6 districts and 188 union councils of the city.
Technical Coordinator ShahnazWazir Ali, Korangi DC SyedMehdi Ali Shah, Karachi Commissioner’s Focal Person for Polio Dr Nusrat, provincial team leaders from WHO and UNICEF, BMGF Technical Focal Person Dr Ahmad Ali Shaikh, Sindh Government Hospital MS and Korangi DHO were also present on the occasion.
