Sindh Health Minister, Dr. Sagheer Ahmed has shown concern on decreasing routine immunization and growing malnourishment among children under five. It being some of the major impediments to the eradication of polio from the province.
He expressed his views at a Seminar on ‘Paediatric Infectious Disease: Insights from Local Research’ organised by Aga Khan University Hospitaly.
Dr. Sagheer Ahmed stated that when they looked at the polio-positive cases of 2011 in the province, in most of the cases, the children had either zero doses or they had multiple doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) but those who received OPV doses were found to be extremely malnourished.
The minister said being a political person, it was easy for him to declare that polio would be eradicated from the province by 2013. But in reality, it was not possible unless issues related to polio prevalence in the country, especially in the province, were identified and tackled.
“Although coverage during the polio eradication campaigns has increased from about 95 to 98 percent, this menace can not be eradicated unless coverage is raised to 100 percent at the Union Council level in the province” he claimed. At the same time, malnourishment among children had come up as another hurdle to polio eradication as despite receiving multiple doses of OPV, some children could not develop immunity against the infectious disease, which was another challenge for the stakeholders to overcome.
“Questions on the efficacy of the polio vaccine and its mode of administration, especially oral administration, were also raised and the option of injectables was also discussed, which should be looked into by the paediatricians and researchers.”
On the occasion, the health minister announced that a programme to cover malnourishment among children up to the age of five was being launched in the province, in collaboration with UNICEF. He hoped that it would help make children strong enough to develop immunity against various infectious diseases.
Dr. S.Ahmed also questioned the reliability of monitoring and analysis of polio eradication campaigns and said that the provincial health department was ready to work with donor agencies and researchers besides its partners to evolve a comprehensive mechanism for the evaluation of the campaign.
Sindh Secretary Health Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi talked about the steps taken by the government in making the polio eradication campaigns a success, including making the deputy commissioners of the concerned districts in charge of the campaigns. “For the first time, doctors have been appointed to monitor the campaigns and administration of polio vaccine at UC level,” he said.
Aga Khan University Researcher Prof Zulfiqar Bhutta, in his presentation, identified decrease in routine immunization as well as Vitamin A deficiency among children as the leading causes of the rise in polio cases. On the occasion, he stressed the need for initiating research to identify the causes and hurdles to polio eradication from the country and urged the government to seek assistance from the private sector in conducting research and surveys to overcome the reasons behind persistence of polio in the country.
Prof Anita Zaidi, another AKU expert and leading paediatrician, identified 10 leading causes that were preventing polio eradication from Pakistan. These include tough geographical and socio-economic barriers, cynicism regarding polio eradication among lower-level staff, wars, insurgencies and repeated natural calamities for the last couple of years.
However, she expressed the hope that the way polio eradication campaigns were being launched and run Pakistan would be polio-free by 2013.