CS chairs PTF meeting, calls for efforts for polio eradication.

PESHAWAR -- Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Shehzad Bangash on Tuesday chaired a meeting of Provincial Task Force (PTF)

and appreciated the teamwork of all partners under the umbrella of Provincial Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) for eradication of the crippling disease of polio from the region.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shehzad Bangesh underscored the need for focus on community engagement to raise awareness on significance of essential immunization saying it was very important to connect with the communities, improve coordination at all levels and encourage factual reporting to get the real data from the field that trigger issue based corrective measures, said a press release issued here.

He said that a lot of efforts, coordination and resources goes into every round of anti-polio campaign, and it was important to ensure optimal use and benefits of all these efforts by ensuring a strict monitoring and accountability system in place at all levels.

'No polio case has been reported for the last 4 months while all environmental sites are negative indicating good progress in the battle against polio', Dr. Shehzad said.

He appreciated and commended the good work of all local and international partners including WHO, UNICEF, Department of Health, field staff, district administrators, District Health Officers, Army, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs)s for polio eradication and called for adopting data driven strategies to plug the remaining gaps in wiping out the scourge from the region.

He underscored the need to intensify the efforts for reaching the finishing line saying that with the teamwork and the exiting support from all line departments and government functionaries the dream of polio free Pakistan will soon be translated into reality.

Earlier, Additional Secretary Health (polio eradication)/ Coordinator EOC, Asif Rahim briefed the forum in detail about the ongoing anti-polio campaign in the province, epidemiology and surveillance updates, updated status of environmental...