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In 2024, two outbreak responses and eight maintenance districts will be prioritized.
Lahore: Punjab finished the year 2023 without a polio case, but officials are on high alert due to the detection of the virus in environmental samples and cases of the disease reported from other provinces.
According to Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khizer Afzaal, the polio vaccination campaigns launched throughout the year achieved a total coverage of more than 100%.
He did, however, admit that nine environmental samples from Lahore (six) and Rawalpindi (three) tested positive for the virus. “The positivity rate of environmental samples was 3% in 2023, down one percentage point from 4% in 2022.” “The difference is more pronounced when compared to 2020, when the positivity rate for environmental samples had risen to 58%,” he said.
According to the coordinator, the successful implementation of anti-polio campaigns helped ensure that samples from the majority of environmental sites tested negative.
The EOC head explained the plans for the coming year, stating that two ‘outbreak response districts’ in Punjab would be given the highest priority in the polio eradication efforts based on the program risk categorisation. “On account of risk factors, including importation, the Punjab EOC will also be focusing on an additional eight districts from the maintenance category — Dera Ghazi Khan, Bhakkar Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Mianwali, Layyah and Muzaffargarh,” the official said.
The EOC coordinator emphasized that Punjab was taking concrete steps to improve campaign quality and coverage of the high-risk mobile population at transit points. “Virus importation into the province is primarily caused by population movement between a core reservoir and Punjab.” “In order to eradicate polio, Punjab has established transit vaccination points to immunize cross-border and inter-provincial populations,” he said.
According to Khizer Afzaal, the priority populations who live in the province permanently or on an ad hoc basis hold the key to maintaining Punjab’s polio-free status. He added that the program was recruiting more women and language-appropriate vaccinators to communicate with such populations.
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Given the importance of such population groups and risks, as well as the vulnerability involved, the coordinator observed that Punjab’s communication workers were working hard to register, map, and profile high-risk mobile community members entering the province so that all children are vaccinated during the campaigns.
Recalling key strategies that worked in 2023 and key focus areas in 2024, he stated that the Punjab EOC and district authorities had implemented zero and locked houses validation in high-risk districts to ensure that every child under five years of age was reached during the campaigns; while evening revisits for children found unavailable and vaccination points at local doctors’ clinics during catch-up days had increased coverage of the vulnerable target populatio
He claimed that regular reviews before and after campaigns, as well as provincial and district-level monitoring and validation plans led by the EOC, had improved campaign quality and data authenticity.
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The EOC chief emphasized that Punjab was actively working to improve essential immunization. “The PEI staff assists with activity monitoring.” In addition to monitoring, the health department has used polio teams in Lahore and Faisalabad to identify and vaccinate due/defaulters,” he said.
The Punjab government ensures the safety and security of frontline workers through the health department.
They have also pledged to make every effort to provide essential support to workers and to help them overcome obstacles, he said. “We acknowledge the hard work of our resilient and brave workers who are determined to protect every child in the province from the crippling virus and together we will soon achieve the goal of eradication in Pakistan,” he said.
According to the provincial EOC coordinator, 2024 was the year when the country aimed to stop poliovirus transmission, and the goal was being steadily pursued.
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