Shamsul-Amin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in collaboration with the World Health Organization arranged a day-long workshop for media persons on Wednesday in which speakers termed the media role a must to make Pakistan a polio-free country and save millions of children’s lives from time disability.
The theme of the workshop was to highlight that polio is a highly contagious viral disease that can spread from person to person.
Around 27 journalists from the Khyber tribal district and Peshawar participated in the workshop.
Speakers including assistant director and polio program manager doctor Iftikhar, R, Mansoor, journalists Mehmood Jan Babar, Saifullah Gul, Dr Fawad Alu Khan, Dr, Hamid Mohmand and others said that Pakistan was the second last country in the world After Afghanistan that still had to go to root out poliovirus.
They said in 2018 only four polio cases had been registered in Pakistan. They said 0.5 per cent of polio-infected children suffer disability while 95 per cent polio polio-infected children recover after they get proper medical treatment.
Dr Mansoor said that last September they had registered 1526 refusal cases from all tribal districts. He said after the health and civil administration officials the number of refusals dropped to 252. He said 44 families in Khyber tribal district were reported to the health department.
Journalists Saifullah Gul and Mehmood Jan Babar urged media persons to work side by side with the health department.
“It was not possible to avoid media role to motivate and remove misconception of some walks of life about the polio vaccine”, said Mehmood Jan Babar. He said journalists and health workers have played an important role in the past in reducing the number of polio cases in Pakistan.
Safiullah Gul said Afghanistan was the second country where 15 polio cases were registered. He said Pakistan it belief that poliovirus was being transported from Afghanistan.
Dr, Mansoor said South Waziristan was an area where they had to use their double efforts to reach every child. He said they were also starting a measles vaccination campaign on September 15.
The speakers urged the media to play their dye role and help declare Pakistan a polio-free country.
