Anti-polio drive to begin in Pak from tomorrow

Amid tight security, a three-day polio eradication campaign will be launched tomorrow for over 2.3 million children below the age of five in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province.
Syed Saifur Rehman, coordinator of Emergency Polio Cell has asked religious scholars, political parties and people to actively participate in the government's efforts against the crippling virus, the Dawn reported.
"Enough is enough, we have to eradicate this virus from Balochistan," he said.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the volatile region for running of the campaign smoothly.
"Over 6,000 mobile teams, 820 fixed and 334 transit points have been established across the province to administer vaccines," Rehman said.

The provincial government has directed concerned police authorities to provide adequate security to avoid any untoward incident to the campaign officials.

"We are launching the campaign amid tight security," he said.
Polio teams and volunteers have repeatedly been targeted by terrorists over the years for supporting anti-polio drive, a major hindrance in government's efforts to eradicate the virus.
In January, at least 15 people, including 12 policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in a suicide bombing targeting polio workers in Quetta. Last month, gunmen shot and wounded a polio worker in Lahore.
Polio is endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria and the World Health Organisation in May 2014 had imposed travel restrictions on Pakistan.

Children in Pakistan's Federally-Administered Tribal Areas cannot be vaccinated as the outlawed Taliban has banned the campaigns since June 2012.