Pakistan gains success but challenges persist: official

Polio eradication

PESHAWAR: Though the polio programme in Pakistan has achieved a remarkable success in reaching out to the children and making efforts to eradicate the crippling disease, sustaining this momentum is still a daunting task to the programme in the wake of security and other challenges.

In a statement on Monday, Dr Nadeem Jan, head of polio programme for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), said that Pakistan had many success stories with regard to polio eradication but a number of challenges still persisted to contain the menace.

“Detecting only 15 cases this year and 54 the previous year does provide the solace required for the government and public health community; though risk of persistent virus circulation in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still daunts the world,” the official said.

He added that Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan were the only three countries where polio was still endemic while the rest of world had eradicated this disease.

The official said that according to the Technical Advisory group meeting in January last, Pakistan was on track to eradicate polio this year; a news that needed to be realised through actual performance of parties at every level ranging from the top government hierarchy to the volunteer vaccination teams.

“This is not an easy task to accomplish and requires sustained efforts to accomplish consecutive quality immunisation campaigns so that every child everywhere gets ampledoses of polio vaccine, including children in high risk zones and those on the move,” the medic explained the challenges.

He welcomed the initiative to mobilise and engage the top government hierarchy like the prime minister, governors, chief ministers, ministers, civil and military administration, schools, clergy, local institutions and general public to overcome various challenges in the drive against polio.

“The programme has not only mobilised health workers but also community volunteers and equipped them with basic information on immunisation,” he said.This is an agenda of change that needs to be carefully planned, utilised and maintained for other health problems like controlling diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, hepatitis, TB, HIV and other mother-child health interventions.The official said this unprecedented mobilisation can prove to be a game-changer that can reverse the tide on many health ills from Pakistan.