In Pakistan, the neonatal mortality rate is at least 45 percent per 1,000 births. On the other hand, the under-five mortality rate is 67 percent per 1,000 children. Pakistan is also one of the two countries that are still trapped in the polio epidemic. Also, 14 percent of children, in our country, die from pneumonia and 25 percent die from measles, tetanus, and other vaccine-preventable diseases. A lot of these deaths could have been avoided, had the relevant authorities carried out proper vaccination programmes. A vaccine helps a child’s immune system to fight against preventable diseases. There are certain state-backed vaccination programmes that provide free vaccine doses. For example, the Expanded Program on Immunization, which was launched in the late 1970s, provides vaccines against at least eight vaccine-preventable diseases to children below 23 months of age. But since we’re living in a society where socio-cultural taboos dominate, these vaccines are often rejected by people. Social media is filled with a whole bunch of assumptions where people cancel the vaccines for one reason or other.
Every informed citizen should take the responsibility of spreading awareness among people to reduce the rate of child mortality.
Samrah Imran
Karachi