Two more polio cases take country total to 40

SWABI/ PESHAWAR/ JAMRUD/ HANGU/DARGAI/KARACHI:

If things go along the same trajectory as current plans, Pakistan could interrupt transmission of the poliovirus. UNICEF Team Leader for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa  Dr Muhammad Jaohar Khan told The Express Tribune over telephone he was confident by May 2016, polio transmission could be interrupted, and in another year the country could be declared non-endemic.

However, his statement comes at a time with a new polio case was eported in Peshawar and Landikotal, Khyber Agency respectively; taking the total in the country to an uneasy 40. Even compared to 2014’s 306, 2015’s 40 cases as yet suggest the coming year might not see all of Pakistan successful in interrupting the virus transmission.



Positivity abound

Nonetheless, Jaohar Khan sees progress in the steps Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata have taken. “The new strategy towards reaching missed children has helped; only 4% of previously missed children left unreached.”



He added access improved, including in places such as Khyber Agency, South Waziristan. In response to a question on the impact of the earthquake, Jaohar said readiness reports suggest campaigns in Shangla, Buner and Bajauar Agency will start mid-November.

He was speaking after the day’s campaign in Peshawar Town-IV had been monitored by international partners. According to the team leader, one of the “game changers” was the Continuous Community Protected Vaccine (CCPV).

Hiring from communities

In play in 49 union councils in Peshawar, six in Bannu and 11 in Tank, CCPV is the new approach for Pakistan. Instead of looking at a campaign and a catch-up, these UCs are looking at a four week approach.

Under this initiative, educated locals from within communities have been hired. They have recorded details of all houses, putting down the father’s name, the number of children and their ages. This micro-census is used for every campaign and revalidated every four weeks. “First we didn’t know who we were vaccinating and who were missing, now we do.”

These individuals are hired at a fixed monthly salary of Rs15,000, as opposed to the volunteer force which was previously not paid their stipend for months on end. Volunteers had a high rate of turnover. Jaohar said as the new staff was hired, there was more accountability and less turnover – employees have the threat of being fired.

He thinks the proof is in the pudding, not the new cases but in the fact that monitoring staff for the days campaign did not find one child missed, even at the peripheries.

Boycotts

As the polio campaign kicked off in in 23 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Fata on Tuesday, it received a blow in Orakzai Agency and Malakand where boycotts were in place. In addition, earthquake-hit districts Shangla and Buner could not participate. Officials dealing with the polio eradication campaign said 5.4 million children under the ages of five will be vaccinated.

In Sra Khona, Orakzai, members of one faction of Saidkhel Tribe boycotted the drive in protest against the arrest of its people. Paramilitary forces had rounded up locals when they clashed with a rival Saidkhel group over rights to a mountain in the area. However, Sajjad Ali, a tribal elder from the former, said they will not boycott the campaign and will vaccinate their children against polio.



Confirming the incident, a political administration official told The Express Tribune they had arrested members of the group headed by Alamgir Ali. The official added the political administration will arrest those refusing to administer polio drops to children. Elders in Khanori, Batkhela, also boycotted the polio campaign over government’s failure to construct a road in the area.

Pillion riding

Security was enhanced for the campaign in Jamrud, Khyber Agency as the administration imposed Section 144 on pillion riding. The same was implemented in the provincial capital as well as Swabi.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2015.