World Autism Day observed

LAHORE: The 11th World Autism Awareness Day was observed Monday by the civil society, NGOs and affected parents without any major support from the government.

“This is the 11th World Autism Day focusing for the first time on women and girls with autism, but unfortunately awareness about this one of the fastest growing mental disorder is still very slow in Pakistan, as is the availability of treatment facilities,” said Mrs Rukhsana Shah, the chairperson of an NGO while addressing a seminar on autism at South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA). The seminar was followed by an awareness walk.

According to a press release, SAFMA President Imtiaz Alam, LUMS senior faculty member Dr Suleman Shahid and Special Olympics Pakistan Vice-President Mr Aneesur Rehman also addressed the seminar.

“In rural areas in Pakistan, children with autism are often kept in chains. Superstition and fear, coupled with illiteracy and lack of awareness and treatment facilities, perpetuate cruelty and violence against them,” she said.

Mrs Shah highlighted that no exact data was available for autistic children in Pakistan. However, she said, in such situation, international indicators may be used to assess the number of Pakistanis with autism.

She appreciated the SAFMA for their support to the cause. She called upon the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) to revive organisations to provide funding for new initiatives such as autism awareness campaigns, teacher training and curricula modification in government schools, therapeutic interventions and respite care alternatives.Imtiaz Alam stated that autism was becoming more common throughout the world; one of 68 children in USA was suffering from this disorder.

dengue surveillance: As the season is changing, dengue sighting has increased in the city causing fear and panic among people while the district administration has claimed to have intensified its campaign against dengue across the city.

The district officials said with its matchless efforts and firm commitment to eliminate dengue mosquitoes from every corner of the metropolitan city, the district administration has geared up its efforts in view of existing suitable weather/environment for breeding of dengue larva.

They said the administration has started massive indoor and outdoor dengue surveillance along with spraying the sensitive and suspected areas. In this regard, Lahore Deputy Commissioner Sumair Ahmed Syed has activated all assistant commissioners, particularly, the dengue workers and officers of Lahore Health Authority.

They said it has been made mandatory at zone level for the appointed officers, belonging to PAS and PMS cadre, to hold TERC meeting in their respective assigned zones to review the indoor and outdoor surveillance by teams on daily basis.

Similarly, three meetings in a week are being held at district level under the chair of the deputy commissioner. The deputy commissioner while chairing a meeting said that the participation of local citizens in dengue drive is as important for the District Administration as breath for life because no success could be achieved without the participation and cooperation of citizens. He disclosed that the previous history of dengue drive reflected the same indicators due to which the success was attained and the danger of dengue was curbed and eliminated.

In view of this, he appealed the citizens to keep their surroundings neat and clean. While reviewing the vector surveillance report of March 2018, Sumair Ahmed Syed said that dengue workers conducted as many as 83,4662 indoor surveillance activities in the entire city while in outdoor surveillance like graveyards, junkyards, tyre shops and others, 139,591 spots were checked. He said only three patients confirmed with dengue fever were reported in the entire city and the district administration has been keeping a constant watch on the areas where they were belonging and spray had been conducted on these areas as well.

Sumair Ahmed Syed showed his satisfaction on the through and regular checking of hotspots like godowns, hospitals, water pounding, factories, nurseries and others and revealed that as many as 17,188 visits were paid to hotspots during the last week. Similarly, 289,140 mobile activities were performed along with responding and timely solving the complaints received through DVR and Health helpline complaint in the month of March.