World Immunisation Week: ‘Take children to the doctor as you take them to dinner’

KARACHI: Many parents in Pakistan refuse to vaccinate their children, despite the availability of free vaccines. The outcome: about 90,000 lives lost to diseases which could have been warded off by timely inoculation.

Nearly 435,000 children under five years of age lose their lives in Pakistan. Roughly 20 per cent of that figure comprises children infected by deadly diseases for which vaccines are available at immunisation centres.

Around 100,000 children die because of pneumonia each year and over 80,000 lose their lives to diarrhoea in the same period, said Pakistan Paediatric Association’s president, Prof. Iqbal Memon, while addressing a press conference organised on Tuesday at the Karachi Press Club. “Take your children to vaccination centres for immunisation as you take them out to a restaurant for dinner or a store for shopping.”



Prof. Iqbal said that the government, health department and NGOs should make the most of the World Immunisation Week - which is celebrated in the last week of April each year - by highlighting the  importance of immunisation. The slogan for this year’s campaign is ‘stop measles now’. Dr Jamal Raza, the association’s general secretary, offered a unique suggestion to get parents to inoculate their children. “Make it mandatory for people to show their children’s vaccination cards before casting vote. In fact, people should be asked to show their child’s vaccination records when they go to collect their CNIC. Children are our assets.”

Dr Raza said that well-executed vaccination campaigns have successfully eliminated infectious disease among children. But Pakistan is still considered a ‘dangerous’ country where the incidence of easily preventable diseases is high. “Vaccines have the potential to protect millions of lives and prevent disabilities if they are administered in time.”

Prof. Iqbal said no polio cases have been reported in the South-East Asia region, which is on track to be certified as a polio-free zone in February 2014. He said that measles vaccination campaigns - in which over 46 million children were inoculated against the disease - ended successfully in India, Nepal and Myanmar last year.

“The world is trying hard to eradicate epidemics and infectious diseases,” said Prof. Iqbal. “But here in Pakistan, a large section of the population is unaware and careless about protecting children through vaccination. This is happening despite the fact that free vaccines are available.”



Prof. Iqbal said the government, along with the private sector, has set up around 7,000 centres across the country under the Expanded Programme for Immunisation. Here, nine doses of vaccines are provided free of cost.

Prof. Jalal Akber urged parents, NGOs and the government to take the mortality rate of easily preventable diseases seriously. Parents can save their children from illnesses such as polio, pneumonia, Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles and tuberculosis through government-run immunisation programmes, added Prof. Akber. Public camps should be set up regularly in urban and rural areas to educate the masses about the benefits of vaccinating children, suggested all the health experts who spoke at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2013.