Poor coverage claims lives of around 485,000 children in Pakistan every year. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
World Immunisation Day is being observed worldwide on November 10 (today), with Pakistan still struggling to improve uninterrupted routine immunisation to protect children from preventable diseases.
According to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), this poor coverage of routine immunisation claims around 485,000 lives of children under the age of five in Pakistan annually. Of these, 18 per cent of deaths are from vaccine-preventable diseases.
It is strange that Rs2.2 billion are spent annually on immunisation in Pakistan, but no significant improvement has recently been seen in routine immunisation, which the government started in 1978 under the EPI against nine vaccine-preventable diseases.
According to the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) 2012-2013, the overall immunisation coverage in the country marginally increased from 47.3 per cent to 53.8 per cent from 2006 to 2013.
The survey says that the coverage of BCG vaccines — which are used to prevent childhood tuberculosis — remained at 85 per cent. DPT, which is used against diphtheria, remained at 79 per cent, and the first polio dose remained at 92 per cent.
Meanwhile, only 61 per cent of children received the measles vaccine, while over five per cent of children received no vaccinations at all.
The DHS further states that in rural areas, only 48 per cent of children were vaccinated, against 66 per cent in urban areas.
It also highlights gender discrimination in the country, as according to it, only 52 per cent girls were vaccinated against 56 per cent boys during the same period.
The proportion of vaccinated children in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan was 74 per cent, 66 per cent, 53 per cent and 47 per cent respectively.
The head of paediatrics department at the Pims Children Hospital, Dr Tabish Hazir, said that in Pakistan, most of the data on the routine immunisation coverage was misleading, as according to him, provinces try to give the impression that the coverage was up to the mark, but the fact is that they miss the targets. He said that the outbreak of measles in the country corroborated this fact.
“There is no mechanism to keep a track of the vaccines used and wasted because of lack of accountability and transparency at every level,” he said.
According to Research and Development Solutions, less than 30 per cent of healthcare facilities maintain proper records of immunisation.
EPI National Programme Manager Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar said that the current challenge was due to post-devolution confusion about federal, provincial and district financing arrangements, underutilised funds, huge emphasis on polio eradication as most of the staff spends 12 of 22 working days every month on National Immunisation Days (NIDS) and sub-national immunisation days (SNIDS) each month, shortage of human resources, lack of political will, and staff commitment.
“We are making all-out efforts to sort out these issues but it will take time,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2013.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, NIDS were incorrectly mentioned as neuro-immune dysfunction syndromes. The error is regretted.
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