‘Overemphasis on polio hampering fight against other diseases’

Paediatrics’ body says thousands of kids in Sindh dying

due to vaccine-preventable diseases

Overemphasis on polio eradication, especially in Sindh, is overshadowing routine immunisation of children under the age of five, and thousands of them are dying because of diseases that could be prevented by vaccines, a news conference was told on Tuesday.

Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) Sindh President Prof Jamal Raza said: “Routine immunisation has reduced to 20 to 25 per cent in the province, which is an extremely alarming situation, as thousands of children are dying due to diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles, which can be prevented through vaccines that are freely available.”

The conference was organised on the start of the global immunisation week, and was addressed by, besides Prof Raza, other PPA office-bearers, including Dr Khalid Shafi, Dr MN Lal, Dr Jalal Akbar and Dr Mushtaq Memon.

The child specialists also called for promoting breastfeeding across the country, saying that the “formula milk mafia” was giving the impression that their products were better than mothers’ milk. “Breastfeeding is not only the best food for a child but is also the first vaccine that prevents infants from various diseases,” said Prof Raza.

Prof Raza, who is also the director of the National Institute of Child Health, claimed that even polio could not be eradicated without enhancing the ratio of routine immunisation in the province, which, he said, should be around 90 per cent. He added that even if the crippling virus was eradicated, there was a possibility of its resurgence due to low ratio of routine immunisation.

He said the total cost of nine vaccines included in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) was around Rs25,000, adding that the vaccines were provided free of charge by the government only to save children from preventable diseases, but, he deplored, parents even hesitated getting their children vaccinated for free.

Urging parents to get their children vaccinated against various diseases at EPI vaccination centres, Prof Raza called for creating awareness about the importance of vaccination and for highlighting its role in preventing deaths of children, whose lives could be saved with the help of vaccines freely available across the province.

PPA Sindh General Secretary Dr Shafi said measles cases were on the rise in the province, adding that measles was a “killer disease”, and urged parents to get their children vaccinated against it in the ninth and 15th months of their lives to save them from the dreaded virus. “Diarrhoea is another disease that is preventable, and it is shameful that in this modern era children are dying due to the illness.”

PPA Sindh Treasurer Dr Lal said vaccines were extremely important for saving children’s lives, as around 100,000 children died of pneumonia every year across the country, and it was easily preventable through vaccine.

Dr Akbar said people were “unnecessarily reluctant” to get their children vaccinated. He urged the media to encourage people to get their children vaccinated to save them from premature deaths and misery because of preventable diseases.

Dr Memon claimed that the highest ratio of routine immunisation was in Punjab, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and then Sindh. He said Sindh needed to improve its health indicators, including routine immunisation.