September 07, 2006	Thursday	Sha'aban 13, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Sept 6: Health officials have expressed concern over what they termed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) distorted funding emphasis in polio eradication in the NWFP and said that the agency was providing huge funds for monitoring and supervision while spending almost no money on improving services.

“So far, six cases of polio have been detected in the province — four in Bannu and one each Dir and Dera Ismail Khan. The WHO cites it as its success, arguing that the number of cases was more than the past year,” said an official of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

He said the number of cases might have been higher as it was difficult to reach remote areas and examine children there because of lack of staff and vehicles. The official said complaints had been raised in meetings between representatives of the WHO and other donor organisations and health officials, but the problem had not yet been solved.

The WHO, which started the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) programme in the NWFP and Fata in 1994 to provide technical and financial support to the health department, was facing problems because of a lack of coordination among the WHO and the department concerned.

The EPI has a staff of over 1,000 for 24 districts in the NWFP while 350 workers serve in Fata. It was too difficult to reach all children below the age of five years. “We have the infrastructure, but we need funds and transportation and other facilities to reach the children in remote regions,” he added.

The WHO/EPI annually conducts eight rounds of immunisation in the Frontier and adjacent tribal areas. The official said that the WHO spent Rs53 million on each round, of which 80 per cent were allocated for human resource (teams and supervisors), 18 per cent to transportation and fuel cost, and two per cent spent on miscellaneous.

Recently, about 350 motorcycles and 420 bicycles had been provided by an NGO but the problem still persisted, said official.

Not this, but the WHO was spending 65 per cent of its budget on polio eradication campaign in Pakistan, the official said. “There are almost half the number of vaccination teams and supervisors required in Fata,” official said, citing a WHO’s letter sent to provincial governor two years ago by its regional director in which he had expressed concern over poor polio campaign in the province.

Officials said the money paid (Rs120 per worker per day) during immunisation campaigns was insufficient for hiring vehicles in Fata.

Likewise, the official said that Unicef spent million of rupees on training of staff ahead of every polio campaigns, which he said was wastage of money. He said that the staff involved in polio drive should be provided training once and the rest of the amount be spent on improvement of service delivery.

PPI adds: Chief Secretary NWFP Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi has expressed concern over six polio cases reported in the province and stressed the need for sincere, effective and coordinated efforts to eradicate the disease.

He was addressing a seminar on polio eradication which was organised by Rotary Club here at a local hotel here on Wednesday. The seminar was attended by the office bearers of Rotary Club and representatives of the provincial health department, WHO, Unicef and NGOs.

The chief secretary urged the ulema, NGOs, teachers and health workers to create public awareness about te disease to protect children from the crippling disease.