ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring Cell has shown concern over the state of polio campaigns all over the country and told the provinces that although they are authorised to prepone and postpone scheduled campaigns, they should officially inform the federal government of the need for such changes and justify their reasons.

The provinces have also been instructed to share data on polio campaigns with the newly-established national Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio on a daily basis for review and response. Moreover, partner agencies — such as WHO and Unicef — must be advised to play their role in monitoring campaigns, according to an official letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

Also read: Polio campaign postponed in Quetta due to security threats

The letter, written by Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication MNA Ayesha Raza Farooq, says that despite several challenges, as many as 17 campaigns including the National Immunisation Days, Supplementary Immunisation Activities, Short Interval Additional Doses and Sub-National Immunisation Days were held in the year 2014.

The letter, discussing the situation in Punjab, says that although 93 per cent of the targeted 286.71 million children were vaccinated, date from the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) shows that out of the total 1,957 lots assessed, only 1,133 (58 per cent) were passed.

After every campaign, districts claim that they have achieved over 90pc of their target. The WHO holds LQAS to verify these claims. Computerised lots are made by automatically selecting persons to verify after balloting, and it is verified whether the children were genuinely vaccinated. In case of a result of 90pc or higher, the LQAS is declared successful. If the result remains lower than 90pc, it is declared failed.

Through the letter, the provinces have been informed that apart from covering the population displaced from North and South Waziristan because of fighting, more than 16m children travelling within and from outside the country were vaccinated through Permanent Transit Posts (PTPs) working in multiple shifts at key points throughout the country.

The provinces have been requested to share information about support available from other sources — such as the Emirates Polio Campaign — with the EOC to avoid duplication of resources for the same activities.

Ms Farooq told Dawn that the idea behind the establishment of the EOC was to gather all the stakeholders under one roof and collect information and data as swiftly as possible.

“Things will start getting better due to the formation of the EOC and it will ensure that every child is vaccinated because timely information will make immediate action possible. WHO, Unicef and other stakeholders have been cooperating with us for eradication of polio virus from the country,” she said.

Third-party monitoring

An official from the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said that because of the continuously worsening quality of polio campaigns, it had been decided that there would be third-party monitoring of immunisation campaigns.

“After every campaign, districts from all over the country claims that they have achieved the target of immunisation. But despite aggressive campaigns, polio cases are continuously on the rise,” he said.

“In a meeting of National Steering Committee on Polio, held on Jan 9, it was revealed that the National Institute of Population Studies (Nips) has been asked to carry out the monitoring of polio campaigns,” he said.

“Third-party monitoring would be conducted in all four provinces and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Areas would be selected randomly for monitoring and teams would reach there without notice. This should ensure that everyone is on their toes and the quality of the campaigns would improve,” the official said.

When contacted, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation’s National Manager Rana Safdar confirmed that Nips had been asked to carry out third-party monitoring of polio campaigns.

In addition, the Ministry of Interior has instructed the Sindh inspector general to provide security for polio monitoring teams in the province, especially in Karachi.

Published in Dawn January 12th , 2014

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