Nearly 15,000 families live in Manzari and a campaign has been started on an emergency basis to cope with the situation. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Six children – two siblings – have died after suffering from measles in Kalat and Pishin districts of Balochistan in the last three days. Four children died in Gizag, in Kalat district, where health workers could not visit them due to a volatile security situation.
“We did receive information about the deaths of four children suffering from measles but our teams have yet to reach there. Local administration says it is a ‘no-go’ area,” said Provincial Deputy Coordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Dr Ishaq Panezai. “There is a fear that more children will suffer in Kalat, if the vaccination campaign is not launched immediately,” he added. Earlier this year two children had died in Zhob and one child passed away in Quetta for the same reasons.
Confirming the deaths, Dr Panezai said the government has stopped funding the immunising campaign since June 2013. “We have launched a campaign in the Manzari area of Pishin district where a year-and-a-half old boy and his four-and-a-half years’ old sister, died after suffering from measles last Saturday,” he said, adding that there was an outbreak of measles in the area. Around 30 women and children have been affected by the disease. Nearly 15,000 families live in Manzari and a campaign has been started on an emergency basis to cope with the situation.
As many as nine children reportedly died from measles over the last four months. Four children died in Union Council Gizag in Kalat district. “The area is about 160 kilometres from Kalat city,” said Hafiz Muhammad Qasim Farooqi, elected councilor of the JUI-F from the area. “The campaign was not launched yet here,” he added.
“The Balochistan government has not approved the budget for the measles campaign,” an official in the health department said, adding that the WHO is willing to provide 52 per cent of the campaign’s funding, if the government agrees to bear the remaining 48 per cent, accounting for Rs137 million.
According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2012-13, only 16 per cent of children are immunised against nine diseases in Balochistan. Measles is a highly contagious, serious disease caused by a virus. Health experts say the entire focus nationally is on the anti-polio drive while no measure is being taken to prevent other diseases in Pakistan. “There is almost no funding by the government to prevent this disease,” Dr Panezai added.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2014.
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shame death due to Measles
in Canada there is an equalization program where the govt takes money from richer provinces and give to poor provinces like Quebec, Pakistan has Iran on its west, we should seize enough oil and gas fields from Iran that will help us get out of this perpetual poverty. Our army is well versed in breaking constitution and occupying the Pakistan govt, let it occupy something that will be beneficial for poor Pakistanis. An easy way is to establish and normalize relations with India and Israel and go for where the future for Pakistan is bright!