Polio on the rise, miscommunications not helping
Lack of accountability, awareness, and professionalism, coupled with poor communication between departments were cited as the major reasons behind the government’s failure to eradicate polio. These views were expressed by speakers at a national workshop on National Emergency Action Plan 2011 to Eradicate Polio’ organised by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) on Monday.
They expressed concern over the 24 confirmed cases of polio reported in Pakistan in the first three months of 2011, which is twice as much as the 12 cases detected in same period in 2010.
Fozia Ejaz Khan, Vice President of the National Assembly Caucus on Immunisation, chaired the session, while other speakers included MNA Tariq Fazal Choudhary , Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly Speaker Wazir Baig, Balochistan’s Provincial Minister for Youth Affairs Dr Abdul Khaliq Achakzai, Punjab’s Provincial Task Force on Health Chairman MPA Dr Asad Ashraf, Sindh MPA Anwar Ahmed Mehar, Sindh MPA Moin Aamir Pirzada, UNICEF Health Specialist Dr Azhar Abid Raza, EPI Deputy National Programme Manager Agha Ishfaq, and Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director PILDAT.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Azhar Abid Raza, said the rise in figures proves that it is not the time to sit and plan strategies but to put extra effort into implementing existing strategies effectively.
“It is a real challenging time for all of us,” he said.
He said a lack of accountability at all levels and poor communication on the part of some individuals regarding polio vaccination for their respective areas due to unawareness is one of the major hurdles in its coverage.
He suggested systemic reporting and monitoring at all levels to combat the disease.
Dr Agha Ishfaq said, “There are many flaws at union council level in vaccinating children and that there are still many areas which go untended during polio campaigns.”
While comparing statistics of polio cases detected in 2010 and in 2011 in the first twelve weeks, he said in 2010 in Balochistan there were four reported cases of polio. The same as this year, while in Sindh there was just one case in 2010 but five have been reported in 2011. In FATA there were four cases in 2010. This year the figure is 12, while K-P has seen three cases reported this year, the same as 2010.
He said that during the March 2011 polio campaign, about one per cent of land area in K-P, Sindh and Balochistan was missed while two per cent in FATA was not accommodated.
“Over 250,000 children are still inaccessible in FATA,” he admitted.
Dr Ishfaq suggested that regionalised strategies be planned with consideration for the population, resources and problems of the area.
Dr Tariq Fazal said, “It is not necessary that all polio cases be reported across Pakistan and the ground realities could be much more worrying than what was presented by the experts today,” he added.
He said lack of coordination between the health departments at various levels is major obstacle in eradicating polio from the country.
Moin Aamir Pirzada said lack of accurate information and human resources is another major reason behind the increase in polio cases in the country.
Fozia Ejaz Khan noted that though we get sophisticated polio vaccines, but due to poor cold-chain mechanisms in the country they become less effective.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2011.
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