Diphtheria outbreak worries parents in K-P

Amidst low vaccination rates among local population, the disease risks threatening lives of children

PESHAWAR:

Diphtheria cases are on the rise yet again in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where despite the vaccination campaign launched by the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) and the Health Department, K-P the disease continues to threaten the health of children in the province.

Sajid Khan, who had brought his little son to the Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, revealed that he hailed from Bannu, one of the merged areas, where vaccinations against diphtheria were unavailable for children. "If our children were fully vaccinated, we would not have to worry about our little ones falling sick. When one child contracts the disease, it can soon spread in the entire village, affecting other children as well," he shared.

Conceding to the claims, an official from the Health Department of K-P, on the condition of anonymity mentioned that despite giving all the facilities to the vaccinators of EPI, a 100 per cent vaccination could not be achieved for diphtheria in the province, where only 60 per cent of children were vaccinated. "Although the department gives all the facilities to the vaccinators including bikes, allowing them to go door-to-door for the vaccination of children unfortunately all these efforts have been in vain," said the official.

According to data obtained from the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) for January to October 2024, a total of 224 cases of diphtheria have surfaced so far, while no deaths have been reported in the province since information on the mortality numbers is released by the National Institute of Health Islamabad. A district wise analysis revealed that Peshawar had the worst outbreak with 80 cases reported, followed by 29 in Charsadda, 28 in Nowshera, nine in Khyber, eight in Swabi, eight in Karak and two in Mardan. Further details revealed that 170 cases are being treated at the Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar's Paediatrics Department while seven others are under treatment at the Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar.

Similarly, the report also added that 1,900 cases of diphtheria alongside more than 200 deaths were also reported across the province in 2023. According to Dr Muhammad Arif Khan, Director EPI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a comprehensive program is underway in the entire district to vaccinate children against diseases including diphtheria.

"The catch-up program will focus on vaccinating those children who were missed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the majority of the vaccinators were busy in the prevention campaign. Diphtheria vaccine has been included in the list of routine immunization for children. There were some challenges in carrying out the program in the merged districts because of the law-and-order situation. But now our coverage has exceeded 90 per cent," said Dr Arif, who urged parents to ensure that their children were fully immunized against diseases like diphtheria and measles.

Commenting on the availability of the Diphtheria Antitoxin Serum (DAS), Dr Arif assured that the province had the required stock and was also supplying the medicine to the authorities in Balochistan, upon their request.