With a little over half of ICT covered in March, polio threat looms large

Despite showing an improvement of 5%, the coverage nowhere close to WHO standards.

ISLAMABAD:

Last month’s anti-polio campaign covered 58% of Islamabad, which while 5% more than in January is still much less than the 95% minimum set by the WHO.

This was revealed in an independent monitoring report “Polio Eradication Initiative Post Campaign Monitoring”.

The report has jointly been prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and the government.

It also points out that the coverage by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration remained at 64% and 50% respectively in their areas.

Considering the poor coverage in January, the WHO had advised the administration to make all out efforts to improve the campaign in March.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Dr Shahnaz Wazir Ali disagreed with the findings of the report, but conceded that the coverage remained below 95%.

According to Ali, the main reason behind poor coverage is the large number of people who move in and out of the city.

Moreover, she said several bus stops were missed during the campaign, while insufficient transit points for vaccination and absence of women in vaccination teams are also among the factors behind low coverage.

She also blamed private schools for being uncooperative with the vaccination teams.

Though satisfied with the ICT admin’s coverage, she was unhappy with the CDA, saying that the civic agency has been directed to overcome its shortcomings and properly train the vaccination teams.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2012.