Anti-polio target unmet as 2010 draws to close

Source: Dawn

Date: December 27, 2010

KARACHI, Dec 26: Despite tall claims made and targets set by national and provincial immunisation functionaries as well as local and foreign health managers, the spread of polio in Sindh as in other provinces of the country could not be halted even this year.

Planners of anti-polio campaigns are now pinning all their hopes on the “National Emergency Action Plan 2011”, which is being finalised on a directive of President Asif Ali Zardari.

With 136 polio cases reported in 2010, Pakistan is one of the only three Asian countries, the other two being India and Afghanistan, where polio is endemic.

However, the convenience of postponement of deadlines in the “knock out polio game” has never come as a surprise during the 16 years of polio eradication activities in the country.

The irony of the entire child inoculation during the years is that nobody — right from foreign experts to volunteer vaccinators — is ready to learn from mistakes and reach at least their own-set goals.

Mass vaccination with a “trivalent” form of the vaccine aimed at all three viral subtypes helped reduce the number of countries with endemic polio from 125 in 1988 to four in 2010.

In April 2003, country representative of the World Health Organisation Dr Azmoudeh stated that Pakistan was likely to achieve the status of a polio-free country by the end of that year.

Similar hopes were pinned on immunisation campaigns in 2005. Since then, the provincial government, international health organisations and the NGOs working in the province for the eradication of polio have been claiming that the “coming year will be a polio-free year” in Sindh. According to experts, things were achievable as the province of Sindh in no way underwent a situation of having inaccessible localities such as the strife-hit areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and federally administered tribal areas (Fata).

However, the year of much-awaited achievement has never come. The gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that polio cases has increased by 117 per cent this year as compared to last year.

Polio that afflicts children mainly under five is caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis or death. The anti-polio oral vaccine works by infecting children with a benign form of polio and giving them immunity to the virulent strain.

As per official figures, this year has witnessed a six-year high number of polio cases. Of the total 26 new cases, 12 cases were reported in Ghotki, three each in Karachi and Kambar, two each in Sanghar and Khairpur, and one each in Jacobabad, Hyderabad, Kashmore and Sukkur.

The year`s first case of polio in Sindh was reported in January, following which no case was reported till the mid of August. However, with the beginning of the high-risk months (August to November), the number of polio cases started climbing almost every week. At present, the figure is just two short to equal 28 cases, which were reported in 2004.

For more details: http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/27/anti-polio-target-unmet-as-2010-draws-to-close.html