PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department is facing challenges in few districts to improve immunisation and ensure that children stay safe from at least 10 illnesses.

The province has recorded better immunisation coverage against childhood illnesses except few districts where the acceptance level is not up to the mark. Overall situation, however, is encouraging for authorities.

Charsadda has registered 92 per cent coverage, the highest among the 25 districts of the province. In the district-wise coverage from January to October this year, the expanded programme on immunisation of health department registered 581,721 fully immunised children throughout the province.

Govt authorities term overall situation in province encouraging

Overall immunisation recorded during the last 10 months was 68 per cent.

Malakand stayed second in the list with 88 per cent immunised persons while Buner got third place with 84 per cent and Abbottabad fourth with 83 per cent vaccination, according to a health department report.

The report said that 80 per cent immunisation was reported in Dir Upper. It added that in some places immunisation’s level was unsatisfactory largely due to people’s reluctance to seek free vaccination for their children and lack of awareness to accept vaccination for disease-free future of their children.

The province has 1295 EPI centres, established in the state-run health facilities where parents take their children for inoculation.

The report said that 29 per cent children were immunised in Kohistan, the lowest percentage in the province, where a total of 7615 people got vaccination. Lakki Marwat with 32 per cent and Tank with 49 per cent coverage were two other districts where situation was not up to a desired level.

In many districts, demand for vaccination existed as people visited the EPI centres along with their children.

The health department has deployed 2,700 vaccinators to immunise the children. They have been supervised by 25 coordinators in as many districts.

Dr Mohammad Akram Shah, the director of EPI, told Dawn that they were on course to improving immunisation coverage in remote districts.

“We are employing different tools including advocacy campaigns and increasing the number of centres and technicians to access the target children and safeguard them against vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. Children receive vaccination against 10 ailments, starting at birth from oral polio vaccine,” he said.

Dr Akram said that children were administered vaccine to protect them against diarrhoeal illnesses, pneumonia, whooping cough, diphtheria, measles, hepatitis, poliomyelitis, meningitis and pertussis. “In some areas, we need to improve the services,” he added.

He said they required to set up 295 more EPI centres to be able to reach all children and increase coverage for prevention of diseases. “We have also requested for regularisation of 700 vaccinators, recruited under Integrated Health Project,” he added.

Dr Akram said that government was according priority to immunisation. “The overall vaccination is 80 per cent,” he added.

He said that provision of the latest technology to EPI centres as well as to field workers helped the department to reach the target population and ensure that the children stayed safe from the sicknesses covered under the programme.

“Many countries have reduced the quantum of childhood diseases through immunisation. We are taking measures to create demand for vaccination among the people, so they could avail free vaccination facilities at hospitals,” said Dr Akram.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018