Polio drive fails to cover thousands of children

Mukhtar Alam

Polio vaccinators and volunteers in Sindh - where two polio cases confirmed after laboratory tests have already been reported in 2011 - have failed to cover about 292,000 children in 13 districts, including Karachi, during the first polio campaign of the year, it emerged on Saturday.

According to data collected by independent monitors, the coverage of children up to age of five years remained at the lowest (80 percent) in Saddar Town, followed by Hyderabad and Kambar-Shahdadkot where 87 percent of the deserving children had been reached during the Sub-National Immunization Days (SNIDs) from January 31 to February 2.

A senior official of the Sindh Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) as well as the district officer (preventive) of the Karachi city Government confirmed the development, but claimed that the districts and towns which had sub-optimal campaign quality had recovered the leftover children in the areas identified by the independent monitors through a sweeping exercise later.

As per the SNIDs micro-planning, a total of 4.8 million children - 2.2 million in Karachi`s 18 towns and 2.6 million children in 12 other districts - should have been covered in the campaign. However, the overall coverage rates came as 95 percent at Karachi and 93 percent in the other districts.

According to the Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) performance report, the coverage of children for oral poliovirus vaccine administration remained below the 95 percent mark in six towns of the metropolis ie Gulberg (92 percent), Keamari (93 percent), Malir (92 percent), North Karachi (92 percent), North Nazimabad (92 percent) and Saddar (80 percent).

In another campaign held in October 2010, two towns of Karachi - Liaquatabad (89 percent) and North Nazimabad (86 percent) - and Kashmore had been unable to surpass the 90 percent mark. However, as per the latest campaign quality report, Liaquatabad managed to cover its 100 percent of the target children during this year`s campaign.

A source in the national EPI said that the current drive was the first such step after the launch of the Provincial Emergency Action Plan (PEAP) for Polio Eradication in 2011.

The National Emergency Action Plan was launched by President Asif Zardari after endorsement by the provincial governor and chief minister in a meeting chaired by the prime minister on January 14. The monitoring report indicated that several strategically important districts of Sindh did not meet one or more than one of the key indicators, reflecting gaps in the performance. In Karachi, overall 34 percent Union Councils (UCs) had finger-marking coverage below the target of 95 percent besides 15 percent of the missed children could not be accessed by the vaccination teams. A maximum 55 percent of the missed children could not be reached in Lyari Town due to inappropriate work of the vaccination teams, which is also termed as `No Team`, followed by Gulberg (52 percent) and Liaquatabad (50 percent).

In Sanghar, overall 43 percent UCs had finger-marking coverage below the target of 95 percent as set in the PEAP, while 76 percent of the unvaccinated children in the monitored areas were found to miss the campaign due to the `no team` factor.

In Hyderabad where the overall coverage rate came as 87 percent by finger marking, 57 percent UCs had the coverage below the target of 95 percent and 24 percent of the unvaccinated children found in monitored areas due to ‘no team’. About 58 percent UCs in Khairpur had finger-marking coverage below the target of 95 percent. In Jacobabad overall 50 percent UCs had finger-marking coverage below the target of 95 percent besides there were 51 percent of the missed children due to `No Team`.

In Sukkur overall 50 percent UCs, in Larkana overall 55 percent UCs, and in Jamshoro 50 percent UCs had finger-marking coverage below the target of 95 percent, the SIA performance report included.

Sindh EPI Director Dr Mazhar Khamesani said that most of the health officials of districts and towns concerned had already covered the leftover children through extra vaccinations following the release of the campaign quality report, while the executive district officers of the health group of offices were also being asked to take necessary measures to analyze the reasons for the low performance before the first nationwide campaign of the new year in March.

Dawn