Two more cases take polio tally for 2015 to nine
Health department officials said the number of children who were missed was likely to cross 40,000 on the third day
A door-to-door national immunisation campaign is being held across the province, targeting some 5.3 million children. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR:
Two more polio cases surfaced on Wednesday, one each from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Meanwhile, over 30,000 children were not accessed in the past two days during ongoing vaccination campaigns.
Missing so many children could have set alarms ringing, yet some officials are of the view the issue will be addressed soon and all children under the age of five will be vaccinated post drive. A door-to-door national immunisation campaign is being held across the province, targeting some 5.3 million children. Since Monday, both the national immunisation drive and Sehat ka Ittehad have been taking place simultaneously. The joint K-P and federal government initiative Sehat ka Ittehad is meant to target 12 districts in K-P, and three agencies and two frontier regions in Fata with the help of the armed forces—mass inoculation against nine preventable diseases including polio.
Sehat ka Ittehad was carried out for two days in Peshawar district; in other districts polio workers continued to administer vaccines to children on Wednesday as well. Kohat was missed on Monday due to rain, shared one official.
SOPs for accessing children
Officials from the health department told The Express Tribune the number of children who were missed was likely to cross 40,000 on the third day (Wednesday). Less than worried, their optimism stems from the fact that as per standard operating procedure, children who were missed, due to any number of reasons including inclement weather, will be followed up on in a subsequent campaign, quite possibly on Thursday (today).
“The 30,000 figure was confirmed at the end of day two but since the campaign is underway, the number is likely to change,” said the official.
Polio workers will be seeking the assistance of local authorities including police, influential people or clerics to administer the oral vaccine to children who missed out.
An official from the K-P Directorate of Health told The Express Tribune those children are then covered in a follow-up campaign, a day after the notified duration of the original drive.
“Let’s suppose a polio worker is told to vaccinate 5,000 children and 500 parents refuse or children are not present at home. The polio workers are told not to stay at the location, but to keep moving ahead to vaccinate other children,” the health directorate official explained. “Those kids are termed as missing or refusal cases and are covered in the follow-up campaign.”
Polio workers later inform health officials about cases who need to be covered. One official said by way of explanation, “Polio workers are always in contact with all the stakeholders.”
According to Dr Bilal, UNICEF Polio Team Leader K-P & Fata, the final number of cases missed can only be confirmed once the campaign is wrapped up. “However, in the last provincial campaign, refusals dropped from 45,000 to 25,000; it was a remarkable achievement,” said Bilal.
Cases in 2015
Two new cases have been confirmed, one each from Peshawar and Khyber Agency.
Health officials confirmed Habiba, a 14-month-old resident of Shero Jangai in Larama, has been infected with the poliovirus. The second one was reported from Khyber Agency; 13-month-old Shahzad from Jamrud. The total number of polio cases has reached nine in 2015, with three from K-P, five from the tribal areas and one from Sindh.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2015.
Two more polio cases surfaced on Wednesday, one each from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Meanwhile, over 30,000 children were not accessed in the past two days during ongoing vaccination campaigns.
Missing so many children could have set alarms ringing, yet some officials are of the view the issue will be addressed soon and all children under the age of five will be vaccinated post drive. A door-to-door national immunisation campaign is being held across the province, targeting some 5.3 million children. Since Monday, both the national immunisation drive and Sehat ka Ittehad have been taking place simultaneously. The joint K-P and federal government initiative Sehat ka Ittehad is meant to target 12 districts in K-P, and three agencies and two frontier regions in Fata with the help of the armed forces—mass inoculation against nine preventable diseases including polio.
Sehat ka Ittehad was carried out for two days in Peshawar district; in other districts polio workers continued to administer vaccines to children on Wednesday as well. Kohat was missed on Monday due to rain, shared one official.
SOPs for accessing children
Officials from the health department told The Express Tribune the number of children who were missed was likely to cross 40,000 on the third day (Wednesday). Less than worried, their optimism stems from the fact that as per standard operating procedure, children who were missed, due to any number of reasons including inclement weather, will be followed up on in a subsequent campaign, quite possibly on Thursday (today).
“The 30,000 figure was confirmed at the end of day two but since the campaign is underway, the number is likely to change,” said the official.
Polio workers will be seeking the assistance of local authorities including police, influential people or clerics to administer the oral vaccine to children who missed out.
An official from the K-P Directorate of Health told The Express Tribune those children are then covered in a follow-up campaign, a day after the notified duration of the original drive.
“Let’s suppose a polio worker is told to vaccinate 5,000 children and 500 parents refuse or children are not present at home. The polio workers are told not to stay at the location, but to keep moving ahead to vaccinate other children,” the health directorate official explained. “Those kids are termed as missing or refusal cases and are covered in the follow-up campaign.”
Polio workers later inform health officials about cases who need to be covered. One official said by way of explanation, “Polio workers are always in contact with all the stakeholders.”
According to Dr Bilal, UNICEF Polio Team Leader K-P & Fata, the final number of cases missed can only be confirmed once the campaign is wrapped up. “However, in the last provincial campaign, refusals dropped from 45,000 to 25,000; it was a remarkable achievement,” said Bilal.
Cases in 2015
Two new cases have been confirmed, one each from Peshawar and Khyber Agency.
Health officials confirmed Habiba, a 14-month-old resident of Shero Jangai in Larama, has been infected with the poliovirus. The second one was reported from Khyber Agency; 13-month-old Shahzad from Jamrud. The total number of polio cases has reached nine in 2015, with three from K-P, five from the tribal areas and one from Sindh.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2015.