Missing children in millions
The corona
virus has caused ample damage around the world leaving almost every country distraught
economically and socially. Ironically, the health sector was on the front line
facing brunt of the situation. With all its worrying effects, the virus has steered
the governments around the world to commence damage-assessment in various circles.
Taking stock of the situation, Unicef has pointed out the alarming number of
missed vaccination targets as a result of the lockdowns.
In Pakistan,
an already suffering vaccination campaign against the polio disease has been
further debilitated. Unicef has reported sporadic outbreaks of preventable
diseases such as measles and diphtheria in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Pakistan is
a large country with high childhood mortality and low immunization coverage
rates as every year, more than one million children miss out a full course of
the most basic vaccines here hinting that it is difficult to find children
missing out during the anti-polio campaign as well yet access to vaccinators is
also difficult in case the vaccination staff did not get to a child during the
campaign.
Roughly around
40 million children missed polio drops in the country due to postponement of
April’s nationwide anti-polio drive after the novel virus (COVID-19) surfaced,
According to
the data, 146 polio cases were reported in 2019 while 39 have been recorded so
far in 2020. Rahul Basharat, a senior reporter from a national daily, reported
that National Coordinator on Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication
(EOCPE) Rana Muhammad Safdar said that the nationwide anti-polio drive to
be held in mid of April was suspended due to COVID-19 situation in the country.
Around 40 million children were to be immunized during this campaign which
couldn’t occur,” he said.
He said that
the government had successfully carried out two back to back nationwide
anti-polio drives in the month of December last year and in February 2020,
achieving immunization for 99 percent of the population.
Though the
health departments have been doing a lot to improve coverage under Expanded Programme
on Immunization on refusal cases and to mitigate the effects of misconceptions
being propagated against National Polio Immunization Days, a lot is yet to be
done to make access to vaccinators easy for parents whose children are missed
out due to one or the other reason.
According to
various surveys fully immunized child coverage in Pakistan ranges below 80 per
cent while overall, less than 70 per cent of children are fully vaccinated with
BCG, measles, and three doses of DPT and polio which is far from satisfactory
level. Many health experts believe that the weak immunization coverage in the
country is one of the key reasons behind increase in number of polio cases in
last two years.
South Asia
could face a further public health crisis as children miss routine
vaccinations. The UN, spurring fears,
warned that the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic might reverse
hard-earned gains in the region.
The United
Nations children’s agency Unicef said hundreds of thousands were at risk as
lockdowns across South Asia halted immunization drives and parents ceased from
taking their children to doctors to be immunized.
Millions of
children around the world have already missed the immunization programmes. More
damage can be expected if government’s focus remained on corona virus.
The Government of
Pakistan should consider other approaches to cover the gap that has been
created during the lock down. The authorities might advise parents to visit the
doctors and administer the required vaccines to their children. Similarly, door
to door vaccination drives while practicing the precautions can also be planned
in this regard.
Comments
Post a Comment