After administering the polio vaccine to a large chunk of the targeted number of children under 5 years of age, the 5-day integrated national polio eradication drive successfully concluded in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) by the end of the stipulated time on Friday, official sources said. Like the rest of the country, the integrated anti-polio campaign started across AJK State on January 8, 2008, and continued till the stipulated timeframe of 4.00 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 12, without any pause, immunizing a major portion of the total targeted total of 7,42,500 children under 5 years of age, administered the polio vaccine in all 10 districts of the liberated territory, the AJK State Health sources told APP late Friday.
The sources continued that in AJK’s metropolis, Muzaffarabad, over 1.20 lakh children up to five years of age were targeted to be administered the polio vaccines during the drive, which lasted by the stipulated last day of January 12 without any break. “At least 3995 mobile teams of paramedical staff were constituted to visit door to door to administer the polio vaccine drops during the campaign across AJK, with a total of 448 fixed centers at the local government.” Hospitals and subordinate health facilities were set up by the State Polio Eradication Committee of the AJK State Health Services Department with the coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO), the sources said. The total staff involved in the AJK-wide national drive includes mobile teams comprising over 5000 workers who visited door-to door to immunize children under 5 years of age with the polio vaccine drops during the campaign, the sources pointed out.
