Dadu children missing out on vaccines

Nearly one in two children in Sindh missed measles vaccinations.

KARACHI:

Nearly one in two children in Sindh have not been vaccinated against measles, as the death toll attributed to the disease has topped 300, claimed a social activists who was part of a team that visited rural Sindh to assess the situation.

Abdullah Langah of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc), told The Express Tribune that doctors as well as teams of vaccinators have yet to reach affected areas in Dadu and other districts.

“The situation is very bad [over there] as the children are not being treated at all.” Apart from measles, children in these areas are also being neglected by polio vaccinators.  Sparc’s Iqbal Detho claimed that the government was “indifferent” to the plight of the children. He demanded that the government launch an effective province-wide measles vaccination campaign. He also asked authorities to hire more vaccinators so that children living in far-flung areas are also covered by regular vaccination drives.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.