KARACHI: Teams to be deployed at all entry points: Polio drive from 14th
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 8: The Sindh health department has decided to depute vaccination teams at all entry points of the province on the National Immunisation Days from Nov 14 to 16 as part of polio eradication initiatives, it was learnt officially here on Wednesday.
According an official of the health department, an advocacy meeting of the Extended Programme for Immunization, Sindh, was held with the collaboration of the Unicef on Wednesday to review the progress and measures in order to check the increasing number of polio cases in the province. The meeting, chaired by Sindh Health Secretary Dr Naushad Shaikh, was attended among others by the representatives of international agencies, NGOs, EDOs (Health) and town health officers from various districts and city government.
As many as four new cases of polio were detected in Sindh, including one in Karachi, in October, which took the tally of polio victims to seven in the province for 2006. The new cases have been reported from Sukkur (1), UmerKot (1), Naushehro Feroze (1) and Gadap-Karachi (1), in addition to three cases reported earlier- one case each from Korangi and Gulshan-i-Iqbal in Karachi and one from Sukkur.
There was a concern among the participants that despite having over 60 anti-polio vaccinations rounds Sindh was still unable to get rid of polio virus. It was expressed in the meeting that the virus originated in Quetta, Jaffarabad, Rahimyar Khan and Bajaur and later the affected children migrated in the Sindh province.
However, the contention was not upheld very much during the meeting as some of the speakers were of the view that since anti-polio measures were already being taken in other provinces as well it would not be appropriate to shift the responsibilities of failure in the whole to the other provinces.
Briefing the media on the issue, the health secretary said that during some inter-provincial meetings of the health officials, the villages along the borders of Sindh and other provinces, which could not be covered fully during the immunisation days, had already been identified so that polio drops could be administered to the children in the villages in question more effectively.
He said that immunisation teams would be deployed at all entry points of the province, including bus stops, railway stations and airports during the immunisation days in future so that no child was missed. He said that concerted efforts should be made to immunise all children up to five years against polio. He said that it had also been decided at the competent forum that the WHO would provide only polyvalent vaccines, which was effective for all the three level of polio disease, to province in future.
Meanwhile, health experts addressing an advocacy seminar jointly organised by EPI-Sindh and the UNICEF said that Pakistan, identified as one of the four “polio endemic countries” across the globe needed concerted efforts and maximum involvement of parents, community, state and international agencies to eradicate the polio virus and protect children against the crippling disease, adds APP.
Sindh Health Secretary Prof Naushad Shaikh, Dr Asif Aslam of UNICEF-Sindh, Dr Yahya Mustafa of WHO Polio Programme for Sindh, Sindh EPI Project Director Dr Salma Kauser Ali, and Abdul Hai of Rotary International urged people not to deny their kids of polio vaccine administered as part of routine immunisation as well as during special immunisation days.
Dr Naushad Shaikh mentioned that India, Nigeria and Afghanistan were the other three countries in the world cited to be endemic. He said that realising its responsibility, Pakistan had expedited its efforts through improved routine immunisation complimented with frequent National and Sub-NationaI Immunization Days but needed public support.
In this context, he mentioned that seven confirmed cases of polio had been reported from Sindh this year. However, he pointed out that all the reported cases with the exception of one was registered to be imported, that is the virus originated at places other than Sindh and child had shifted to the province from other parts of the country.
“In the given backdrop of the situation, we have decided to depute vaccination teams at all entry points of the province including bus stops, stations and airports during the national immunisation days scheduled from Nov 14 to Nov 16.
It was warned that leaving even a single child unimmunised against polio would remain a major threat not only for all children of the country but also those in other countries, registered to have eliminated polio virus from within their areas of jurisdiction.
Dr Yahya Mustafa observed that although Pakistan continued to have cases of polio, the country was, however, noted to be on the verge of eliminating the ailment. “The number of polio cases has been reduced from 199 in the year 2000 to 28 cases in 2006,” he said mentioning that while the immunisation status of children has increased over the past few years, there has been a decline in the polio cases from the very poor, but a rise from the urban slum areas.
With regard to challenges being faced in Pakistan, the WHO official referred to research showing that there were still too many missed children to stop polio from spreading. “One child with polio in Pakistan can lead to spread of polio and the key to stopping polio is to ensure that all children under five, regardless if they have been immunised in the past, be immunised during each and every round of polio campaigns,” Dr Yahya Mustafa elaborated.
Dr Kauser Ali said that the real challenge was to ensure that every child was immunised. She advised people to immediately call on toll free number 0800-12012 if vaccination teams did not visit their home by Nov 16.
