Polio, measles drives kick off in tribal belt

Children across Fata to be immunised by government teams

PESHAWAR/ DI KHAN:

Around 1.7 million children will be administered measles and polio vaccines in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas during an ongoing immunisation drive.

Insiders familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune, the door-to-door drive will continue till August 31. However, some areas were inaccessible due to the deteriorating law and order situation, and military operations. Director for FATA Secretariat Health Dr Zafeer told The Express Tribune that oral vaccines against polio and measles will be administered during the drive.

“At least 1,200 teams will attempt to visit all accessible households,” he said. “The teams would be placed at major entry and exit points of all tribal agencies.” Zafeer added a concerted effort will be made to vaccinate the maximum number of children and eliminate poliovirus as well as measles.

“The repeated campaigns helped us control poliovirus,” he said. According to the director, 131 polio cases were reported by August 2014.



“A door-to-door drive was possible due to vast improvement in the law and order situation of the tribal areas,” he said. “At first, the campaign was limited to hujras and people were asked to bring their children to such meetings for vaccination.”

Zafeer said some areas such as North Waziristan Agency and Khyber Agency were inaccessible as military offensives had been launched to eliminate militancy in the region. “However, proper security arrangements have been made for the safety of vaccinators.”

He said children in South Waziristan, FR Bannu and Khyber Agency were administered injectable polio vaccine (IPV) for the first time.Overall, feedback has been largely positive.

“The health directorate is planning to extend the IPV campaign to other parts of tribal areas and the frontier region,” he said. Zafeer urged residents of all tribal agencies and frontier region to cooperate with polio teams and save their children from permanent disability.

A question of priority

A campaign to eliminate measles kicked off in Wana, South Waziristan and will continue till August 31, said Agency Surgeon Dr Jahanzeb. Speaking to  journalists on Thursday, he said the drive is being conducted in Birmal Shakai and Toi Khulla, among other areas. He added 186 teams will administer the measles vaccine to 167,000 children. “The children are aged between six months and 10 years and the injectable vaccine is only administered once,” he said.

The doctor added health teams were instructed to comply with their orders and strict action will be taken against negligent officials. He stressed the support of religious leaders and local elders will serve to secure the future of children in the tribal area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2015.