Polio-free Pakistan: ‘Develop Tribal Areas if you want a polio-free Pakistan’

Problems regarding vaccination in the Punjab are different from those in FATA, KP: Rahimulah Yousufzai

LAHORE: The socio-political situation in Tribal Areas has hampered progress on polio eradication for the last few years, Rahimulah Yousufzai, an analyst on Pakistan-Afghanistan affairs, said on Monday. “Dynamics of access, insecurity and geographical positioning have had a huge impact on the government-led polio eradication drive.”

He was speaking at a roundtable discussion with columnists, anchors and health reporters. The event was organised by the Punjab Emergency Operation in collaboration with the UNICEF.

“Focussing on development, education and health sectors in Tribal Areas would yield positive results for the future…only then can we imagine the possibility of a polio-free country,” he said.

In his discussion regarding challenges of migration between Pakistan and Afghanistan and its impact on polio eradication, he said that Pakistan was faced with huge challenges and there was a need to take extra-ordinary steps in order to get results, especially along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

During the question-and-answer session, Yousufzai said that the Punjab was leading in terms of development including progress on polio eradication. The nature of challenges in the Punjab was different from those in the FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said.

He appreciated that the Punjab had progressed to an advanced stage in polio eradication – tracking missed children and zero dose children and synergy of polio assets towards optimising resources for routine immunisation.

EPI Programme Deputy Director Muhammad Younus said although the Punjab had been able to interrupt transmission of poliovirus, without integrated results countrywide, the dream of polio eradication may not be achieved entirely.

“Pakistan has been able to achieve significant decrease in polio cases (306 cases reported in 2014 compared to 54 cases in 2015) following Operation Zarb-i-Azb,” he said. The military operation had provided vaccinators access to some Tribal Areas, he said.

Towards the end of the discussion, journalists were asked to suggest ways to improve exchange of information with the government and develop efficient ways of communication. The polio programme team said the media’s role in identifying problems and as a watchdog would be of paramount importance.

 

GAVI assures govt of cooperation

A delegation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), headed by Anuradha Gupta, met Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal and provincial authorities at the Civil Secretariat on Monday.

They discussed the routine vaccine and immunisation programme and the GAVI officials assured the government of full cooperation in their attempts to eradicate the virus.

The chief secretary said they would take all possible steps, with the cooperation of the GAVI, to save the next generations from diseases. He said the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) was of significant importance and there was room to make the programme even more effective.

Officials of the Health Department also gave GAVI delegates a detailed briefing regarding the steps being taken for quality assurance.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2016.