KARACHI: Sindh health minister Dr Azra Pechuho said on Wednesday that plans were under way to launch a rigorous vaccination campaign across the province to stop a possible outbreak of typhoid.

“The time is ripe to launch a massive vaccination campaign against typhoid across Sindh especially in those neighbourhoods where an outbreak is feared,” said the minister, while presiding over a meeting regarding typhoid control at her office.

Additional chief secretary health Usman Chachar, other senior officials of the health ministry, representatives of USAID, Aga Khan University Hospital, and other stakeholders also attended the meeting.

The meeting was informed that some 413 cases out of 100,000 were being reported every year in the country, while in the sprawling capital of Sindh this ratio was alarmingly high as it was 573 cases per 100,000. The meeting decided that a massive vaccination drive against typhoid would be launched soon for which a comprehensive plan would be chalked out.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018