PESHAWAR: Pakistan Paediatric Association will launch an awareness campaign to motivate parents and create demand for polio vaccination amid challenges posed by hesitancy against immunisation and attacks by terrorists on polio workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

`Our members across the province will motivate parents in OPDs and clinics to ensure full vaccina-tion of their children and inform them about its benefits. We will work mainly on awareness to create demand for vaccine and safeguard children against disabilities,` Dr Syed Bawar Shah, the provincial president of Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA), told Dawn.

According to him, the parents of all children visiting OPDs or clinics of paediatricians for various health issues will be convinced to ensure that their children receive two drops of polio vaccine in every house-to-house campaign till they attain the age of five years.

Pakistan has recorded six polio cases in 2025, including four from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In 2024, 20 people including 16 police constables lost their lives inattacks on them by terrorist during anti-polio campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Fifty three people including 43 policemen received injuries in such attacks. Two people were kidnapped during anti-polio campaigns.

In 2025, a policeman on polio duty was killed in Khyber tribal district while another constable (Levies official) was shot dead in Bajaur tribal district. Overall, about 112 people, more than half policemen, have been killed during polio drives and more than 300 have received injuries since 2012.

`Officials associated with polio eradication programme in the province are making their all-out efforts to wipe out the vaccine-preventable childhood ailment through vaccination, the only way to get rid of thecrippling ailment. However, attacks on polio teams and refusals by parents have made their task tougher, experts said.

According to them, frightened by endless series of attacks, polio workers have developed an understanding with the people, who oppose vaccination of their children. Under the understanding, the vaccinators mark the fingers of their children with indelible ink without administering vaccine to them. Such children are shown as vaccinated in the record.

Experts said that fake finger marking was one of the main issues faced by the government and the UN agencies involved in polio vaccination. In each campaign, the recordshowsabout98percentcoverage on average but cases arebeing reported and the environmental samples emerge positive, indicating that the virusisin circulation even if cases are not recorded.

They said that they had already enlisted support of religious scholars to dispel the misconception that polio drops were not allowed in Islam or those were designed to render the recipients impotent and infertile and cut down population of Muslims.

The scholars have been prevailing upon people that it is their religious duty to protect their children from the diseases and help them grow healthy. However, people involved in anti-polio efforts need strong collaboration with PPA, the members of which are dealing with children in hospitals and clinics.`Once the people become sure that vaccination is the right medicine for their children, they will go for it, otherwise, the vicious cycle will continue to haunt children, said experts.

Recently, a Letter of Intent (LoI) was inked between Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) and PPA to promote essential immunisation with a specific focus on creating an enabling environment for polio eradicationin the province.

Experts believe that people should be conveyed the massage clearly that polio vaccination programme is spearheaded by government and its drops are also available in government hospitals, therefore, they should ensure vaccination of their children for their safety.