Strike four: Health workers cover 300,000 homes

Roughly 0.6m children vaccinated across 77 UCs during Sehat ka Insaf.

PESHAWAR:

After completing three phases of the Sehat ka Insaf health campaign in Peshawar against nine diseases, the government on Saturday inoculated nearly 0.6 million children during the fourth round in 77 union councils (UC) of the provincial capital. The drive was held a day after another polio case was reported from Peshawar, which in WHO’s words is the “largest reservoir of the polio virus in the world”.

The past three campaigns had been carried out on Sundays but this week’s drive was moved to Saturday at the 11th hour, over what officials described as security concerns. Motorcycle riding was banned in the district from morning till evening as part of security measures.

According to officials from the campaign, phase four of Sehat ka Insaf had set an initial target of reaching 635,675 children. With data missing from Bala area and some children unavailable, at least 534,729 children and 298,619 houses were reached. These numbers will be updated by the department on Sunday (today).

Inaugurating the fourth phase of the campaign at Hazar Khwani UC, Minister for Health Shaukat Yousafzai said Saturday’s campaign, which saw the inoculation of almost 0.6 million children and visits to nearly 300,000 houses, was small compared to a full-fledged three-day campaign which will cover all of Peshawar beginning February 24.

The minister appreciated the adoption of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) vaccination model by the Sindh government and said they will offer technical assistance to the province in this regard. He appealed to parents to get their children vaccinated against polio and other preventable diseases to protect them from paralysis and death.

Yousafzai explained that 3,375 teams, including 1,092 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers, 494 teachers and a large number of health workers, LHWs and volunteers, participated in this round.

He claimed the campaign, which will continue till April 21, will ensure by its end that not a single child of Peshawar is deprived of lifesaving vaccinations.

Yousafzai, along with MPA Fazle Elahi Khan and Sehat ka Insaf focal person Younas Zaheer went door-to-door, administering vaccination drops to children and distributing health kits. Yousafzai also gave away pamphlets which aim to create awareness amongst the public against dengue and other diseases.

Talking to The Express Tribune, District Polio Control Room Focal Person Dr Ikram Khan reiterated the target for Saturday’s campaign was 635,657 children but due to absence of some from their homes, they vaccinated around 0.6 million children.

Khan said the first phase targeted 45 UCs, the second 63 UCs and the third and fourth 77 UCs each.

He said their first priority was to cover all the so-called hard areas known for law and order problems and high refusal rates and then to cover the accessible areas including Hayatabad, University Town and the five UCs of Cantt.

However, he said the next phase would likely cover the remaining ‘hard’ UCs of Peshawar, namely Urmar Payan, Urmar Maina, Gulbela, Saeedabad, Takhtabad, Garhi Sher Dad, Panam Dehrai, Kafoor Dehrai and Shahi Bala.

About the most recent polio case reported from Peshawar on Friday, Khan said the case was notified in January and confirmed on Friday.

He informed that from December 25 to February 2, no polio vaccination campaign was launched in Peshawar, which could be the reason behind the new case.

Meanwhile, commenting on peace negotiations with the Taliban, the health minister said it seems there is a lack of confidence and keenness in both parties but there is still hope and PTI believes the doors of negotiations must not be closed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2014.