NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, January 6, 2014

Peshawar: Around 200 security personnel have been trained to immunise children against polio in north-western Pakistan after civilian workers refused to join an upcoming campaign against the crippling disease.

Under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), personnel of the Khasadar and Levies militias have been trained as an “alternative tool” to administer oral polio vaccines to children in the restive Khyber tribal region.

Authorities resorted to the move after a large number of vaccinators declined to take part in a drive beginning on January 8.