Three children infected with measles

Victims are being treated and quarantined

MULTAN: At least three children have been infected with measles in Multan on Sunday, Express News reported.

Doctors at Children’s Complex said that two-year-old Hassan, three-year-old Haleema and nine-month-old Waqar were admitted to the health facility after catching the virus. They said all the victims were being provided treatment and were being  kept in the isolation ward at the hospital.

Earlier, a report released by the World Health Organisation revealed that 5,871 cases of measles were reported in Pakistan in 2016. The figure almost doubled in 2017 to 10,540 cases, while laboratory tests confirmed 2,806 and 6,437 reported cases in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

According to WHO standards, 95% coverage is the necessary rate to avert an outbreak as the disease is highly infectious. Even reaching the 80% coverage threshold will avert large-scale outbreaks.

Last year, a meeting conducted by the Pakistan Health and Population Strategic Forum, chaired by Federal Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar, took notice of the measles situation. She agreed to launch a nationwide anti-measles drive in October 2018.

They also decided to release a plan of action with mutual consultation among all provinces.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2018.