KARACHI, Nov 24:As the crusade against Poliomyelitis enters its final phase now, the Government and all its partners have re-doubled their efforts with a view to achieve hundred percent coverage in the ongoing round for Polio starting from Nov 30.
In this regard, a mission of the World Health Organisation (WHO) visited Sindh and met with the Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Faisal Malik, Chief Secretary M. Aslam Sanjrani, Secretary Health Prof. Naushad Ahmed Shaikh, DG Health Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi and other high ranking officials of the Health Department.
The Mission comprised Dr Ali Jaffar Suleiman, Chairman Polio Certification Committee WHO/EMRO, Dr Khalif Bile Mohamud, WHO Representative in Pakistan, Dr H. Wahdan Senior Adviser to the Regional Director WHO/EMRO, Ms. Cyntbia from WHO headquarters Dr Rehan Abdul Hafiz National Program Manager EPI and Dr Anthony Mounts Senior Medical Officer Polio Eradication WHO Pakistan.
While in Sindh the Mission was facilitated by Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi WHO Operations Officer for Sindh, Dr Mohammed Azmoudeh WHO Medical officer for polio Eradication in Sindh, Dr Yehia Mostapha Team Leader Polio Eradication Northern Sindh and Dr Amna Kamal of WHO Pakistan.
While presiding over a meeting of the Mission and Nazims/ DCOs from the worst affected districts, the Chief Secretary Sindh, highlighted the fact that efforts should be made at the grassroots level which would make a major difference and added that the campaign should be run along area- specific lines rather than applying the same strategies across the board.
He appreciated the role of WHO and of the other development partners of the government for their efforts for polio eradication in Sindh. Dr H Wahdan, drew the attention of the Chief Secretary Sindh to the low routine immunization status in the country as a whole and stressed that improving the same along with having very high quality rounds of National immunization Days could rid the province of this menace for good.
He stressed the role of mobilizing communities particularly through religious leaders to impress upon the masses the need for immunizing their children against all the seven vaccine preventable illnesses that cause a lot of mortality and morbidity in Pakistan.
Dr Ali Jaffer Suleiman, who is also the Director General of Health in Oman pointed out that WHO was not suggesting any new strategy as these had been employed in over a hundred countries that had achieved Polio eradication.
Currently, however, only three out of twenty two countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region including Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt had not achieved nor interrupted the transmission of wild polio virus.
Dr Anthony Mounts pointed out that the vaccine was of the highest quality and any apprehension concerning it was not based on facts. He dilated on the scientific basis for immunizing the children during every found by pointing out that children under five in Pakistan had frequent bouts of diarrhoea, which prior to the rounds could reduce their chances of developing immunity by half.
The District Nazim of Sanghar and DCOs of Hyderabad, Dadu and Badin also expressed their views on the issue of Polio Eradication. They emphasized the fact that the misinformation concerning the vaccine quality in the media resulted in some refusal cases in the mega-cities although there was no basis to it.
They assured their full support to their respective health sector in mobilizing support from other sectors for the cause of Polio eradication. Dr M. Azmoudeh pointed out that young children under the age of six months were often missed during the rounds while there were cases of refusals in the posh areas, due to social taboos and a wrong understanding of facts.
He was of the opinion that children who were exposed to the hazards of unsafe water an inadequate sanitation should be immunized as often as possible and also stressed on the need for strengthening routine immunization.
WHO Country Representative Dr Khalif Bile Mohamud thanked the Government of Sindh for assigning a high priority to Polio Eradication both at the provincial and district levels and hoped that the partnership of his organization with the Government would further flourish.
He assured that the WHO would be up scaling its monitoring in order to ensure that the desired results were obtained. Dr Bile pointed out that the province of Sindh, which was doing so well in the areas of Tuberculosis Control and Safe Blood Transfusion could do equally well in the area of Polio Eradication.
Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani pointed out that the low level of literacy in the province was a factor to reckon with and the social mobilization should be carried out by the appropriate methods according to local conditions. -APP