Pak PM kick starts anti-polio campaign with vow to eradicate disease from country

Islamabad, July 15 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, while launching the July 2012 anti-polio campaign, vowed to eradicate the crippling disease from the country.

Ashraf, who kicked off the three-day drive from July 16-18 by administering anti-polio vaccine to six children, said he was personally monitoring the implementation of augmented emergency response action to control polio, reports The Nation.

He said the federal government had recently released an amount of Rs 35.15 million for strengthening Union Councils' Polio Eradication, and added that the Provincial Assembly's Standing Committee on Health had been declared as a focal body to look after the progress of the anti-polio campaign.

Ashraf said the government was aware of the reported cases of polio in some parts of the country and added that special steps had been taken to vaccinate the children in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He said extraordinary measures were on the cards to address the challenges of inaccessible areas in the Khyber Agency.

The July 2012 anti-polio drive will target over 34 million children across the country, with particular focus on 5.12 million minors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. He said 16,795 teams would take part to administer oral anti-polio drops to children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (ANI)