ISLAMABAD: A summery has been moved to the Prime Minister Office to ensure that the latest recommendations of Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) are strictly implemented to eradicate the crippling disease.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been requested to convene a meeting of the National Task Force (NTF) on polio eradication, said an official in the ministry of national health services on the condition of anonymity.

The IMB works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues six-monthly reports on the performance of countries where polio has still not been eradicated. The travel restrictions on Pakistanis on May 5, 2014, were also imposed on the recommendations of the IMB. The last meeting of the IMB was held in Abu Dhabi on April 29-30. However, its report was made public on May 19.

Read: Monitoring board sees signs of progress in polio eradication

The meeting, chaired by IMB Chairman Sir Liam Donaldson, recommended that Pakistan’s National Task Force (NTF) should meet at least once a month to oversee the implementation of the National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP).

The IMB also recommended that the NTF should particularly ensure that a monthly meeting of each chief secretary with the deputy commissioners concerned was held to oversee the implementation of NEAP in each province.

Moreover, the IMB stated that within the next four weeks the NTF should resolve issues that were resulting in delayed payment of salaries to frontline polio workers.

Health ministry official says summary moved to PM office to get Independent Monitoring Board’s recommendations implemented

In the report, serious concerns were expressed on the polio situation in Khyber Pakhtunkwa which was once a role model for other provinces as it had launched the Sehat Ka Insaf programme and eradicated poliovirus from the city of Peshawar within less than a year. However, last year the situation again deteriorated in the province due to which another programme, Sehat ka Ittehad, was started.

“In the whole Pakistan, Peshawar tops the IMB’s list of concerns. Round after round of vaccination campaigns have failed to stop transmission in this hub of population movement. The United for Health (Sehat ka Ittehad) initiative was a step in the right direction drawing together the government of KP, Fata and the army,” the IMB report added.

However, it said the programme in Peshawar needed an urgent strengthening with strong leadership and new ideas. The greatest challenge remains in specific small areas which need concentrated focus to match the specific local context. Not only Peshawar but also parts of Bannu and Tank need special attention.

The health ministry official added that in the light of the recommendations a summery had been moved to hold a meeting of the NTF in the second week of June.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, Dr Ala Alwan, and the chairman Global Polio Oversight Board Dr Tom Frieden will be visiting Pakistan the same week, so they will be able to attend the meeting, he said.

Moreover, as chief ministers also participate in the meeting of the NTF, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been requested to advise them to ensure the monthly meeting of the chief secretaries with the deputy commissioners concerned, he said.

“As far as the delay in payment to the polio workers is concerned, a team under the head of emergency operation centre for polio chief, Dr Rana Safdar, has been established to resolve the issue,” he said.

When contacted, Dr Safdar said at present payments to polio workers were made through three channels – the WHO, support fund of the UAE and provinces.

“Whenever the payment from one of the channels is delayed, polio workers start contacting the media that they were not getting salaries. So it has been decided that a uniform system should be made and payments of all the three contributors would be released from one window.” He said the issue would be resolved by July 31.

In reply to a question regarding KP, Dr Safdar said a strategy had been made to vaccinate the inaccessible children.

“Fulltime volunteers have been appointed under a ‘continuous community protected vaccination programme’. The volunteers are appointed from local areas and they work throughout the month. Moreover, the volunteers are assigned the task to cover just three to four streets or a small village,” he said.

The volunteers are supposed to ensure that all children in their areas are vaccinated. He said after the launch of the new strategy around 18,000 children had been reached in areas along the Afghan border.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2015

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