September 19, 2002	Thursday	Rajab 11, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is likely to help Pakistan in vaccines production with a financial assistance of $12 to 15 million.

This was stated by the executive director of National Institute of Health (NIH), Dr Athar Saeed Dil, while speaking at a two-day workshop to create awareness among people about rabies, here on Tuesday.

The workshop was inaugurated by the health minister, Dr Abdul Malik Kasi.

Dr Dil, however, said the assistance was coupled with a condition requiring NIH to develop partnership with a vaccine production unit par excellence.

He said the IDB was assisting Pakistan so that it not only produced vaccines to meet its local demands but also could be able to export these to other countries.

Dr Dil said though the exact number of deaths caused by rabies in Pakistan could not be ascertained because of gross under-reporting, it could safely be predicted that the rural population was the most vulnerable because of uncontrolled presence of stray animals, and least developed facilities for health delivery. He said that no province was free of rabies.

Dr Altaf Bosan said 47,057 dog bites were registered during 1994-1997, and 170,508 during 1998-2000. “A rough estimate shows that there are 2.5 million stray dogs in Pakistan. Of these 0.55 million were in NWFP.”

Dr Bosan was of the view that the factors responsible for high rabies’ incidence in Pakistan were illiteracy, increase in dog population and absence of a reliable system for control, and treatment failures, including negligence on the part of patient or doctor, loss of vaccine efficacy due to improper storage, high cost of treatment and preference to spiritual healers.

“Globally, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Mongolia account for 95 per cent of the estimated 60,000 annual cases worldwide. A number of countries including Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Latin America have registered a dramatic decrease in human cases of rabies through rapid dog population control, better diagnostics, introduction of cell line vaccines, and use of intra-dermal route of vaccine.”

He said these countries had implemented programmes for improved post-exposure treatment of humans and vaccine programmes for dogs.

He said the post-exposure guidelines as recommended by the WHO envisaged washing and disinfecting the wound, infiltration of the wound with immunoglobulin, and post-exposure vaccine treatment.

He said the impression that post-exposure rabies treatment was possible in highly-sophisticated institutions only was a misconception.

Dr Farida said the deadly but preventable viral disease was transmitted through bite of rabid animals. “Non-bite exposures include accidental contact of infected brain tissue from rabid animal with the mucous membrane or a wound. The incubation period of the disease varies from one to three months, to several years. Common symptoms include aphasia, incoordination, paralysis, behavioural changes, anxiety, hyper salivation, difficulty in swallowing, and several kinds of phobias.”

The health minister, meanwhile, called upon the participants of the workshop to disseminate information and knowledge among the general public especially among those, who live in the remote areas of Pakistan.