PESHAWAR (APP) To raise awareness against the eight deadly diseases, the Extended Programme for Immunisation (EPI) has launched National Vaccination Week here on Saturday that would cover 22 districts of the province excluding Abbottabad and Mansehra due to security situation in the areas. The National Vaccination Week would continue from April 24 to April 30 whereas polio immunisation days would commence from April 26 to April 28. The awareness week was launched here at a local hotel with Minister for Excise and Taxation Liaqat Shabab as chief guest. Director General of Health Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Fazal Mahmood, Deputy Director EPI, Dr Syed Mujahid Hussain, Immunisation Officer of UNICEF Dr Bilal, WHO representative Dr Khalid and PPHI representative Shakeel were also in attendance. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Syed Mujahid Hussain said during the vaccination week a total of 4,496,438 children would be vaccinated for which 12,995 teams have been constituted. He said due to law and order situation in Abbottabad and Manshera 470,000 children would be left out of the vaccination. However, he said they would be covered in next campaign starting from May 3. Dr Mujahid said EPI has chalked out a programme for the Week during which pamphlets would be distributed in Peshawar, Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan districts besides broadcasting special messages and programme on Radio Pakistan to raise awareness among the masses about eight deadly diseases that could result in life-time disability and can even lead to death if not timely cured. Moreover, he added dramas, messages and talk shows would also be aired on Khyber TV from April 25 and messages would also be displayed on billboards on all entry points of the city. An awareness walk about the issue would be held on April 26, which would start from Frontier Children Academy, Hayatabad, wherein people from different segments of life would take part, he added. Dr Bilal, Immunization Officer, UNICEF, appreciated EPI for taking initiative to launch the Vaccination Week and Immunisation Month with an objective to extend health cover all segments of society and to raise information about deadly diseases so as to build a healthy society. He underscored the need for reaching out to far-flung areas in southern and northern districts, adding that unhealthy and uneducated nations could never make progress. Director General of Health Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Fazal Mahmood said 12 new polio cases have been reported this year out of which three are reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in FATA and Balochistan each and one in Karachi. He said two polio cases have been reported in Peshawar and one in militancy-hit area of Swat. The DG said, We did not meet our polio targets due to various reasons with militancy on top of the list and added cross boarder movement and anti-polio propagandas are the major reasons for failing to meet the desired goals. Earlier, speaking as chief guest, Excise and Taxation Minister Liaqat Shabab called for collective efforts to combat deadly diseases and urged media persons to help EPI and other initiatives taken by health department to meet its targets. He said media men, teachers, elders of area, parliamentarians and all segments of the society should join hands and work with missionary zeal to combat health related issues in order to ensure healthy society.