First phase of anti-polio drive on Oct 14-15

Kathmandu:

Director at the Child Health Division (CHD), Dr Yasovardan Pradhan, said here on Thursday that the CHD will launch the first and second phase of the national polio immunisation campaign on October 14-15 and November 18-19. Dr Pradhan said the campaign has been scheduled to ensure a coverage of 90 per cent.

The two phases of the campaign, which were earlier scheduled for September 1-2 and October 14-15, could not be launched due to natural catastrophe, Dr Pradhan said. The government aims to administer polio drops to 44 lakh children aged below five years of age throughout the nation this year.

Though the government had aimed to get the polio eradication certification by 2005, the aim could not be realised as polio virus was deteceted in the Terai. The bid has been postponed for three years.