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The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has introduced a new policy linking the issuance of essential official certificates to polio vaccination in a bid to strengthen efforts against the virus.
The Peshawar district administration has mandated that birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates will only be issued upon submission of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the District Health Officer (DHO). This NOC will confirm that children in the applicant’s family have been vaccinated against polio.
This policy follows the recent anti-polio campaign in Peshawar, during which around 20,000 children remained unvaccinated. Alarmingly, parental refusal accounted for 8,000 of these cases. The administration is implementing targeted measures to address these refusals.
The initiative comes amid a resurgence of polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with 18 confirmed cases reported this year, raising concerns about further outbreaks.
Officials aim to use this policy as an incentive for parents to vaccinate their children, contributing to the larger goal of eradicating polio from the region.
