June 24, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1429

KARACHI, June 23: As a part of the ongoing polio virus control and environmental surveillance activities, the Sindh health department is considering a proposal to test sewage specimens to be collected from various parts of Karachi and others parts of Sindh. The samples are proposed to be examined in collaboration with certain national and international organizations to see if polio viruses were present.

Sources in the health department said that the proposal was discussed at a meeting of senior representatives of international health organizations and the Sindh health department held here on Monday.

Experts on polio and public health shared views on the sustained outbreak of wild polio virus in the province and both the international and local health executives agreed in principle to take some special measures to overcome the problem, the sources added.

Of the 14 lab-confirmed polio cases in the country, 10 have been detected in Sindh during the first five months of the current year. These included the two cases detected in Karachi.

At the meeting, according to the source, health officials from Sindh expressed their commitment to the eradication of polio virus and told the foreigners that joint actions would be taken on a war-footing to achieve the goal.

The meeting was further told that a training course on polio for executive district officers (EDOs) of health would be held in a fortnight as the officers of most districts in the province had just taken up their assignments and were new in the field. Moreover, a training programme for vaccinators was being introduced, the source said.

Talking to Dawn, Health Secretary Shafiq A. Khoso said that sewage surveillance had been suggested by a senior international delegate of the Technical Advisory Group on polio eradication for Pakistan. Such surveillance could help identify the communities prone to the polio virus transmission in the province, particularly Karachi, he added.

The secretary said that the health department would also take onboard the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and some other organizations as well for the purposed examination of sewage samples which would be collected from some selected areas, including those where polio viruses were known to be in circulation.

He said that the task needed a well-integrated plan and the World Health Organization (WHO) had already indicated that it would provide all possible assistance to the lab-testing of the samples. Following the completion of sample collection and examination, efforts would be made to ascertain the level of water contamination at various points, if need be, he added.

Meanwhile, a two-day international technical consultation meeting on polio eradication has been scheduled for June 24 at a local hotel. Among others, David Heymann, WHO’s Assistant Director-General on Communicable Diseases, and Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Lashari will be present at the meeting.