Inadequate planning: Anti-measles drive postponed due to lack of funds

International donors demand strict checks and accountability.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan will be unable to launch the first phase of measles supplemental immunisation activities (SIAs), planned for June this year, owing to unavailability of funds. As a result, the first phase of measles SIAs may be deferred till October.

According to official documents available with The Express Tribune, the measles SIAs aimed to control the disease’s outbreak in flood-prone areas of the country.

The first phase of SIAs, costing $16.6 million, was to cover 41.4 million children, aged between nine months to 10 years, from Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered
Tribal Areas, Balochistan and eight districts of Punjab including Lahore, Faisalabad and Islamabad, for vaccination, according to the document.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has raised some issues in the plan of action for measles SIAs, submitted by the federal Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in collaboration with World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef, revealed the documents.



The EC has asked Pakistan to address these issues by May 29 for reconsideration of its application by June 10. The application which was submitted by the federal EPI and its international partners along with the plan of action to GAVI requested support for the nationwide measles SIAs costing an estimated $65 million.

Out of the total cost, GAVI committed $35 million whereas the remaining amount has to be covered by the government, the documents revealed further.

The executive committee has asked the government to update the SIAs plan of action to the satisfaction of its development partners and provincial EPI manger, and address issues such as making the SIAs pro-routine immunisation activity, ensuring systemic accountability for measles at the union council level, ensure monitoring and surveillance of SIAs to strengthen routine EPI information management, clarification on tendering modalities and terms of reference for the independent evaluation of measles SIAs among others.

National Programme Manager EPI Dr Zahid Larik said the international donor agency has mainly expressed concern over the routine immunisation coverage in Pakistan and asked the government to strengthen it with proper accountability and evaluation.

“This is one of the major reasons behind the delay of measles SIAs in Pakistan,” he said.

A meeting of the committee for measles SIAs was also held on Tuesday, which was chaired by Health Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Director General Dr Qazi Abdul Saboor.

He suggested that owing to shortage of time, it would be more feasible for a small group comprising World Bank and US and British aid agencies to take the lead in collaborating with WHO, Unicef and federal EPI to revise the plan of action and address related issues.

This should be submitted by May 24 for the committee’s endorsement in its next meeting on May 27 for subsequent submission to GAVI.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2013.