Along with COVID-19, Sindh in grip of several other infectious diseases

• “There is definitely a measles outbreak in Sindh, especially Karachi where we have seen more measles cases in first four months in this year than the entire last year,” says Dr. Jamal Raza.

KARACHI: At a time when Pakistan is trying its best to contain Coronavirus like elsewhere in the world, health authorities in Sindh fear an outbreak of measles, Extensively Drug Resistant (XDR) Typhoid, Diphtheria and other vaccine-preventable diseases among children in the province, especially in Karachi where most of the parents are not visiting the vaccination centers for last two months to get their children vaccinated.

“There is definitely a measles outbreak in Sindh, especially Karachi where we have seen more measles cases in first four months in this year than the entire last year. There is no doubt that this is due to prevailing lockdown and related issues but routine vaccination among children has dropped alarmingly and it is a serious cause of concern”, renowned pediatrician and Director of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Prof. Dr. Jamal Raza said on Friday.

Talking to journalists at the start of World Immunization Week, which is observed from April 24 every year to emphasize the importance of vaccines, Prof. Jamal Raza said undoubtedly COVID-19 is a serious health issue and entire world is looking for its vaccine but unfortunately, people are not getting their children vaccinated against disease whose vaccines are available and children are vaccinated against these diseases free of charge in Pakistan.

“Routine vaccination has dropped upto 60 percent in Sindh and in some districts including Malir and South, it has dropped as low as 33 percent. Due to lockdown and other problems, parents are not going outside and getting their children vaccinated but they should take this issue seriously and get their children vaccinated as soon as possible against measles as well as 10 other vaccine-preventable diseases”, Prof. Jamal Raza appealed.

To a query, Prof. Jamal Raza said so far, only a few children had contracted COVID-19 in Karachi and rest of Sindh but number of children affected with measles was more than 1700 in the first four months of the current year and warned that if not vaccinated against measles, it could prove more lethal and harmful for children as compared to COVID-19.

He claimed that not only measles but they were also seeing cases of XDR Typhoid and Diphtheria from different areas of Karachi and added that all these diseases were preventable, whose vaccines were available at the EPI centers and public health facilities in the province.

Project Director, Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Sindh Dr. Akram Sultan confirmed that Sindh was heading towards an ‘outbreak of measles’ if parents continued to stay at homes and refuse to get their children vaccinated against the vaccine-preventable disease, saying measles was more contagious disease than COVID-19 and it could seriously harm children if they were not vaccinated against the preventable disease.

The EPI official conceded that soon after COVID-19 outbreak in the world and lockdown situation in Pakistan, many of their centers remained closed in the end of February and March 2020 and their staff also preferred to avoid going outside their homes but now they have arranged Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the vaccinator centers’ staff and over 90 percent of the fixed EPI centers are open to vaccinate children in the province.

“In some areas, where there is a complete lockdown and people can’t go outside, we have planned to send our teams of vaccinators and vaccinate children against measles and other vaccine preventable diseases”, Dr. Akram Sultan added.

Renowned Infectious Diseases (ID) expert at Indus Hospital Karachi Dr. Naseem Salahuddin also feared an outbreak of measles in Karachi and rest of Sindh like in 2018 many dozens of children had died due to the preventable disease and urged parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.

Dr. Naseem Salahuddin also called for import and availability of the measles vaccine in the country, saying due to lockdown and travel restrictions, importers were facing problems in getting the vaccine delivered to Pakistan, fearing that it could result in a serious public health issue in the country.

General Secretary of Pakistan Pediatric Association (PPA) Sindh Prof. Dr. Khalid Shafi also urged the parents to get their children vaccinated against measles, XDR typhoid, diphtheria and other preventable diseases, saying COVID-19 is not as dangerous for children as these contagious, adding that fortunately vaccines against all these diseases were available and parents could get their children vaccinated against them.

“Parents should take all the precautionary measures while going out to get their children vaccinated, they should wear facemasks, hand gloves and use sanitizers but it is utmost important to get children vaccinated against 11 vaccine preventable diseases”, Prof. Khalid Shafi added.