LARKANA, Jan 1: As the death toll from measles outbreak keeps rising, a mass vaccination drive was launched in eight districts of Larkana and Sukkur divisions with the target of vaccinating 2.9 million children till Jan 11.

This was announced by Sindh health secretary Aftab Khatri who was talking to journalists on Tuesday in the office of district health officer, Larkana, after paying a visit to Chandka medical college and children’s hospital, and District Hospital Kambar-Shahdadkot.

He said that extensive arrangements had been made to cover the target population in eight affected districts and expressed the hope that the task would be completed by Jan 11.

Secretary Khatri evaded the question was he was asked whether the ‘missing’ population of the anti-measles campaign of 2011 were the main factor which contributed to the measles outbreak this year. However the additional health secretary (technical), Dr Ahfaque Memon, admitted that certain ‘pockets’ in disaster-hit areas of the province were missed during the measles vaccination campaign in 2011 and this might be one of the contributing factors to the recent epidemic.

He said that the total number of measles cases in the province was being investigated by the World Health Organisation, as secretary Khatri quipped that the revenue department and media were the main sources of information about the number of measles cases.

He appealed to the media to play its due role in spreading awareness about the disease and said that the health officials would give daily briefings about their work.

Secretary Khatri said that arrangements had been made to provide security to the vaccination staff as they would visit remote areas in the eight affected districts. He said that the commissioners of Larkana and Sukkur divisions would monitor the overall situation with health department teams and investigate the reasons which led to the measles outbreak.

When asked, he also evaded about proper maintenance of the cold chain of the measles vaccine. When Mr Khatri was asked whether there was a dispute between the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) and the health department over not covering certain areas, he said that 75 per cent of primary healthcare in Sindh was the responsibility of PPHI. He said that according to the new protocol of the World Health Organisation (WHO), children between the ages of nine months and 10 years should be vaccinated against the Measles.

In Larkana alone, he added, 80,000 children had been vaccinated out of the set target of 391,621.

According to the dean of medicine at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana, Prof Dr Saifullah Jamro, the people in flood-hit districts of the province are already facing ‘severe acute malnutrition’.

“In medical terminology, 12 per cent malnutrition is labelled as an emergency but in these areas there is 20 per cent acute severe malnutrition,” he said. “This is one of the causes of the measles epidemic.”

Vitamin A, required for treating measles was not available in medical stores throughout the Sindh province. According to district health officer, Larkana, Dr Abdul Fatah Bughio, his office had been providing vitamin A to doctors in children’s hospitals. The additional health secretary agreed to the proposition of providing vitamin A on medical stores.