PM’s Polio Cell report: Vaccination drive in 67 districts ‘unsatisfactory’

Many areas remain uncovered; drives suffer from funding.

ISLAMABAD:

Polio campaigns have consistently underperformed in Pakistan, according to an independent evaluation released by the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Coordinating Cell on Tuesday.

The evaluation was of the post-polio campaign scenario – the campaign was held from January 30 to February 1 this year. The report declared 67 districts unsatisfactory in terms of covering the required percentage of children.

In the first two months of 2012, 12 polio cases have been reported including two from Quetta, two from Khyber Agency, one from North Waziristan, one from Mirpurkhas, one from Hyderabad, one case from Peshawar, one from Lakki Marwat, one from Dera Ismail Khan, one from Kohat and one from Jhang.  A continuing rise in polio cases indicates an alarming trend, especially considering Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world where the virus is still endemic.

Balochistan’s underperformance

According to the analysis, one of the areas that has underperformed the most is Balochistan, where polio campaign coverage was below 95%, rendering the campaign incomplete.

Member National Assembly Asiya Nasir, from Balochistan, said there were a number of factors behind the disappointing performance in the province, while talking to The Express Tribune. Many of the remote areas in the province remained uncovered during the campaign, she explained, saying polio teams had no access to them. In addition, the communities in these remote areas have little access to information on the importance of polio vaccinations. Myths continue to circulate, as does propaganda, about vaccination schemes.

The problem goes deeper than this, however. It’s not merely a question of geography – the volunteers are unable to access far-flung areas because they’re underpaid and do not receive the funds necessary for the arduous travel procedure. Nasir added that one way of addressing the problem of access is recruiting more female volunteers from the local population, in order to overcome cultural obstacles in the polio campaign.

Shockingly, she revealed that “In Balochistan it is on record that children between the ages of 10 and 12 were made part of the polio campaign team. Their own hygienic condition was unsatisfactory and they carried polio vaccines in water coolers,” she said.

Officials remain apathetic too. Many, Nasir said, run polio ‘campaigns’ while sitting in their offices.

Sindh coverage

In Sindh, more than 20% of union councils in Dadu, Kambar, Sanghara and Tando Muhammad Khan had unsatisfactory polio coverage, below 95%. Independent evaluation of Karachi indicated the same rate in union councils in Bin-Qasim, Gadap, Gulberg, Jamshed, Korangi, Lyari, Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Orangi, Saddar, Shah Faisal and SITE.

Talking to The Express Tribune, MNA from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) Fozia Ejaz Khan said that polio campaigns were mainly run through media coverage, which was not enough. Another problem, she said, was that storage facilities for polio vaccines were very poor.

Other areas

Areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) marked with red flags were Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand,  North Waziristan, Tank, Frontier Region (FR) Lakki, FR Kohat and FR Peshawar

More than 20% of union councils in Abbottabad, Bunir, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Hungo, Lakki Marwat, Malakand, Mansehra and Torgarh had sub-optimal results. In Punjab, more than 10% of union councils in Gujrat, Hafizabad, Jehlum, Lahore, Nankana Sahib, Rahimyar Khan and Sahiwal were marked as unsatisfactory where immunisation coverage was below 95 %.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, more than 20% of union councils in Astore, Diamir, Ghizar and Skardu showed unsatisfactory results.

Capital’s performance

Ironically, even the capital of Pakistan suffers from unsatisfactory polio coverage. Around 52% of union councils in the area indicate lack of appropriate polio campaign coverage.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a polio campaign official summed up the problem succinctly, saying that if the government failed to cover the capital sufficiently, then what could one say about the entire country, especially the remote areas?

The cell responsible for the evaluation has urged districts to prepare well for the next round to be held from March 12 to 14, 2012 in 68 districts. DCOs have been requested to lead the preparatory phase to achieve the desired results.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2012.