PESHAWAR: A four-day anti-polio campaign will begin in Federally Administered Tribal Areas today (Monday) to vaccinate over one million children below five years of age.

An official statement issued here on Sunday also added that there will be a seven-day campaign in polio high risk areas, including Jamrud and Bara tehsils of Khyber Agency, South and North Waziristan Agencies and FR Bannu areas like Baka Khel, Jani Khel, Hindi Khel and Sintanga.

It said that Fata secretariat officials, with the support of Unicef and WHO, had constituted 3,371 teams, including 2,980 mobile, 297 fixed and 94 transit teams, to administer anti-polio drops to the targeted children.

The statement said political agents, commissioners, paramilitary and military forces would be providing security to the polio workers.

Last year, only 16 polio cases surfaced in Fata, including one in North Waziristan, two each in South Waziristan, FR Peshawar and 11 in Khyber Agency. Rate of refusal cases in Fata and FRs remained below two per cent. However, number of children missed due to their non-availability at home was comparatively higher throughout the year.

The statement said that additional chief secretary, Fata, Mohammad Aslam Qamboa appreciated efforts of the stakeholders for substantial reduction in polio cases in the tribal region.