Low immunisation responsible for high child mortality

Islamabad

Pakistan has the highest infant mortality rate (IMR) in South Asia; low immunisation and vaccination coverage is biggest contributor to IMR. With mere 56% coverage, almost half the children remain unimmunised, health experts addressing a media briefing in connection with World Immunisation Week stated here on Saturday.

Prof. Dr. Rai Muhammad Asghar, President of Pakistan Pediatric Association and Head of the Department of Pediatrics at Allied Hospital and RMC termed immunisation as a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases and underscored the need to increase the reach of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

Dr. Rai said, with the inclusion of Rotavirus diarrhea in EPI, the government is giving protection against 10 deadly diseases; it is the responsibility of parents to bring their children to EPI centress and get them vaccinated. “Increasing coverage to 80% can drastically reduce IMR,” he added.

Vaccines, Dr. Rai maintained, protect children by preparing their bodies to fight many potentially deadly diseases. “Vaccines are responsible for control of many infectious diseases that were once common around the world, including smallpox, polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib),” he said.

Every year, pneumonia kills an estimated 1.2 million children under the age of five years worldwide, more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Rotavirus gastroenteritis is estimated to cause more than half a million child deaths. Two billion people are infected with Hepatitis B virus and about 780,000 people die; all these deaths can be prevented through vaccination and immunisation,” added Dr. Rai.

Globally, 17% of the deaths in under-5 years age group are due to vaccine-preventable diseases. “Without vaccines, epidemics of many preventable diseases could return, resulting in increased and unnecessary illness, disability, and death,” he added.

Talking about how vaccination changes lives, Prof. Dr. Samiya Naeemullah, Head of the Department of Pediatrics at Islamic International Medical College said, measles vaccination resulted in a 75% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2013 worldwide, while illnesses and complications caused by influenza can be reduced by up to 60%, and deaths by 80%, in elderly patients. “Polio cases have been reduced by 99% from over 300,000 per year in 1988. Smallpox was eradicated globally in a time-span of 10 years,” said Prof. Samiya.

Dr. Samiya stressed the need to educate parents about the importance of vaccination and persuade them to bring their children to nearest EPI centres. Despite the availability of free vaccines, coverage is very low. Lack of awareness and socio-cultural barriers are the biggest reason behind this. “The media is the only force which can create mass level awareness and help protect our children from deadly diseases,” she concluded.