PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to engage female teachers’ of government and private schools in the polio eradication campaign to effectively implement the program.
The Deputy Commissioners of each district has been issued instruction in this regard after the meeting of Provincial Task Force on polio eradication program. Every school will be issued letters within a week to nominate female school teachers for polio vaccination. The task force officials said that the decision has taken to use the education department manpower to eradicate polio.
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Source said that targets have been handed over to the Deputy Commissioners to implement the proposal. The data of lady teachers will be obtained through private schools regulatory authority after which the process of including teachers in polio teams will be started.
Despite the eradication of the polio virus in the rest of the world, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where the virus’ threat still looms over the head of children. In the early 1990’s, there were 20,000 cases but due to hectic efforts, now just one case has been reported, last year. The Pakistan Anti-Polio Program, last case of polio in the country was confirmed on January 27, 2021 when polio germs were found in samples taken from a child in Qila Abdullah, Balochistan.
The Emergency Operations Center of the provincial health department said not a single case of polio has been reported in the province for more than a year but vaccination is important to clear the country from the virus.
Most of people still doubt the polio vaccines and some militant groups have been attacking polio workers, killing 70 health workers (including women) and several law enforcement officials since 2012.