Polio report: Pakistan ‘has broken a promise to its children’

Independent Monitoring Board says country hindering global fight against virus.

ISLAMABAD:

With seven months remaining until the lapse of a self-imposed deadline by the PM’s polio cell in 2011 to rid Pakistan of the poliovirus by 2014, the Independent Monitoring Board states that Pakistan has ‘broken its promise’.

In a biannual report launched on Monday and a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, the IMB said Pakistan has ‘broken a promise made to its children’, adding that currently four of five children suffering from polio are from Pakistan. The report characterises Pakistan’s battle against polio as lagging years behind other endemic countries, describing the work of the PM’s polio monitoring cell as ‘shadow boxing’ or futile.

The IMB meets twice a year, and consists of nine members, that convene in their personal capacity as international experts. The IMB’s report provides an independent assessment of the progress being made in the global fight against polio.

The situation in Pakistan, the body says, is ‘dire’, and the country is held responsible for significantly slowing down the global march towards eradicating polio. “Pakistan’s polio virus spread to Syria, causing a major outbreak amidst the country’s civil war. Pakistan’s polio virus spread also to Israel, West Bank and Gaza and Iraq,” the report states, saying “each outbreak overstretched the global programme’s resources and credibility”.

“It is impossible to accurately predict how many children will be paralysed by polio this year in Pakistan. The amount of polio virus circulating, particularly in FATA, poses the very real danger of hundreds of Pakistani children being paralysed in 2014, unless the government acts very quickly,” says the report.

The IMB points to the target killing of health workers as one of the main challenges affecting the eradication of polio in Pakistan. Additionally, the report says the situation was complicated as the virus spilled over into Waziristan, where access to vaccines is hindered by Taliban commanders.

Referring to the dissolution of the PM’s polio cell in 2013, the report states that the national structure for managing polio eradication ‘was dismantled at a time when it needed to be strengthened’. The IMB calls for greater coordination and management, saying the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication requires “ready access to, the authority of and absolute support from the prime minister and president”.

The army’s role

IMB sources indicate that the Pakistan Army is willing to assist with the vaccination programme. While there is some hesitation in militarising a humanitarian programme, the report says Pakistan’s ‘complex situation’ indicates that “involving the army is a valid and important part of the solution”.

Recommendations

The report strongly recommends the establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Pakistan, which builds upon Pakistan’s recent experiences in responding to natural disasters and other countries’ experiences in emergency polio response. Top-level civil servants, senior representatives of national, regional and local government, religious leaders as well as military leaders should be a key part of this process, the IMB says. “We urge that this new body be fully operational by 1 July 2014,” states the report.

The IMB suggests that the heads of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative core partner agencies meet urgently with the president and PM to support their leadership of the eradication programme, and to offer every possible assistance in establishing the new EOC.

Additionally, the report suggests Pakistan take ‘urgent steps’ to licence additional oral polio vaccines so that they can be used within the next six months.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2014.