'Selective Immunisation' to Eradicate Polio in KP

"There's no way except vaccine for prevention of poliomyelitis. We are employing all means of communication to prevail upon the parents to immunise their children." - Dr. Jan Baz Afridi

Out of Peshawar, Pakistan, this news piece announces that the provincial health department is applying new strategies to ensure immunisation of children against polio in the province. Quoted here is the Deputy Director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), Dr. Jan Baz Afridi, who indicates that a communications technical committee of the health department for immunisation has been working in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners to create demand for the oral polio vaccine (OPV) among parents and "apply brakes on refusals". The committee hopes to further strengthen coordinated efforts through area-specific communications strategies, to be determined through regular monthly review meetings.

The committee was set up according to the guidelines provided by Prime Minister Polio Cell to do away with misconceptions about the efficacy of OPV and inform people about its significance. It also includes representatives of Auqaf (Government of Sindh) and information departments, members of the media, and personnel from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The committee is responsible for preparing a comprehensive communication strategy and scaling up social mobilisation so that people take immunisation seriously.

According to Dr. Afridi, Mardan, Nowshera, and Charsadda were among other high-risk districts about which they were concerned. He said that, in collaboration with union council polio eradication committee (UCPECs), they would ensure access to the children who were missed by health workers owing to inaccessibility or refusal by their parents.