Outbreak: Three children contract measles in Mohmand Agency

EPI coordinator denies any case was reported to agency surgeon

SHABQADAR: At least three children have contracted measles in Safi tehsil, Mohmand Agency on Tuesday.

A health official has confirmed the development. “Three children of Irfan, a resident of Shewa Farsh, Safi tehsil, have been afflicted with measles,” he told The Express Tribune.

According to the official, another child, identified as Rizwan, was rushed to a hospital in Peshawar in critical condition after he contracted measles. The health official said there are no vaccines for measles at basic health units in Safi.

The agency’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Coordinator Dr Shabir Khan denied that any case has been reported to agency surgeon’s office at Ghallanai.

“If measles cases are reported, [we] will dispatch a team to investigate,” he said.  According to Shabir, measles is a common ailment and campaigns are organised if reports are received about such cases.



Health and education infrastructure in Mohmand Agency had been dismantled by a crippling wave of militancy that has gripped the region in the past.

As a result, locals depend heavily on non-qualified medical technicians or schoolteachers who act as private medical practitioners in most parts of the agency. Earlier this year, at least four children died of measles and pneumonia over a span of a week in Haleemzai, Mohmand Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2016.