A sub-national immunization drive against polio is kicked off in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein more than 1.324 million children will be vaccinated against the crippling disease.

This was decided in a high -level meeting here in Emergency Operations Center with Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit in the chair, says a press release issued here on Monday. Representatives of health department and technical partners were present on the occasion. The meeting took stock of the arrangements including operational, logistics, communications and security measures for the upcoming campaign. The campaign will be conducted in Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi and Mohmand for which 7455 polio teams have been constituted.

Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Basit said that polio is a public health emergency and is communicable disease like other viruses and the only solution is vaccination in every round of polio campaign.

He requested parents to ensure vaccination of every child and support the government in eradication of the disease that is a national emergency and is leaving children disabled for life.

It is noteworthy that 30 wild polio virus (WPV) cases have been recorded from the country during current year out of which 15 are from KP.