Needless deaths

What should be an integrated anti-measles programme has been neglected and now, we see the results of this negligence.

The toll taken by measles on children in Sindh has now crossed the 100 mark. Victims have fallen to the disease in various parts of the province. Measles is highly contagious and especially without proper medical care can lead to complications which kill. But the disease can be prevented — all that is required is one small jab of a needle delivered twice in infancy.

The fact that our government and its health authorities do not care enough to ensure every child in the country receives this vaccination is a tragedy. The anti-measles vaccine is part of the government’s protection programme for vaccination of potentially fatal childhood diseases. As a result of similar programmes, measles is now an infrequent killer in many nations around the world. There is no reason why we cannot eliminate it or at least ensure that it becomes a rare form of sickness.

Health authorities admit there are flaws in the immunisation programmes, including the maintenance of the ‘cool chain’ — which can ensure the vaccine remains effective — and also in the delivery of the protected medicine to children everywhere. These shortcomings have been pointed out often enough. It is time we actually did something about them. Mere statements such as those being delivered by the Sindh government are simply not sufficient.

Before this, experts have also pointed out other defects in the entire system of vaccine delivery. One defect is the focus on polio rather than all childhood diseases as a whole. The opinion of many specialists in the field is that the effort needs to be combined with an emphasis placed on making sure children under the age of five receive all the vaccines on the list intended to protect them against disease. Singling out polio has not been effective. As a result, the rest of what should be an integrated vaccine programme has been neglected and today, we see the results of this negligence in Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2013.