Despite govt initiatives: Struggle against pneumonia continues

Health experts say causes of disease need to be addressed urgently.

ISLAMABAD: Every year, around 90,000 children in Pakistan under the age of five die due to pneumonia. However, the government seems to have done its part by introducing the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in its Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

Health experts, though, speak contrary to the government’s belief. They insist that administering PCV alone cannot help fight the killer disease as there are many other factors directly or indirectly linked to the cause of the disease.

Talking to The Express Tribune in connection with World Pneumonia Day observed on November 12 annually, Dr Tabish Hazir, head of the department of paediatrics at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), said without addressing the issue of malnutrition and indoor pollution, the vaccine cannot bring better results.



He insisted that the vaccine is not effective on children who are malnourished and unfortunately, half of all children ender the age of five in Pakistan are chronically malnourished.

Hazir said every year many children under the age of five are also vaccinated against measles but still its cases emerge in huge numbers and the reason behind this is the weak immune system of children.

A majority of the kids who suffer from pneumonia belong to poor families whose parents burn wood, coal and cow dung for heating but they are made to sleep on the cold floor and use cold water for washing purposes, he said.

“It is difficult to prevent these kids from catching pneumonia and vaccine cannot help them much,” Dr Hazir added.

Talking about PCV, he maintained that the government needed to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of administration of this vaccine to children under the age of five across the country to get desirable results.

A senior paediatrician at Holy Family Hospital on the condition of anonymity said the government believes its only responsibility was to introduce the vaccine in the EPI but has since then not made efforts to create awareness about mitigating the disease.

“Moreover, when winter comes, the provincial governments and centre should carry out a mass awareness drive about prevention of the disease and importance of getting children vaccinated,” he said.

EPI National Manager Dr Rana Safdar said so far PCV has been introduced across the country except the tribal areas where hopefully it will be introduced by the end of the year.

“By improving the coverage of routine immunisation across the country, Pakistan can reduce fatalities from the disease to a great extent,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2014.