Cases of infant mortality went up in January as compared to the previous months. At present on average 65 children die per district before their first birthday as compared to 56 in December and 51 in November 2011. Of the 34 districts that registered 2,212 infant mortality cases Gujrat was on top with 221 cases, Sahiwal 206 and Sargodha 122, revealed the report of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) released on Friday.
The report, based on monitoring of 74 health offices across Pakistan said that there were also 120 cases of maternal mortality (mothers who die due to pregnancy and delivery-related complications) and 157 of child mortality (children who died before attaining the age of five years).
FAFEN governance monitors visited 30 offices of Executive District Officers/Health (EDO/Health) in Punjab, 17 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14 in Sindh and 11 in Balochistan. Moreover, one office of Agency Surgeon Health (ASH) was visited in Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) as well as an office of Health Management Information System (HMIS) Islamabad Capital Territory.
Monitoring of 74 districts revealed 2,191,659 cases of diseases in January. Of these, Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) were the most reported - 57% of the total. Faisalabad reported the most cases of RTIs (162,886), followed by Bahawalpur (61,321) and Gujranwala (56,850).
Gastrointestinal infections constituted 13% of the total disease burden. Of the 279,266 cases of this disease, 90% were of diarrhea and dysentery and 10% of gastro-enteritis. Among skin diseases, there were as many as 229,408 cases of scabies reported in 66 districts, with Faisalabad having the most cases followed by Kasur and Sialkot. Similarly, out of 9,888 cases of animal bites, 212 were those of snake bites with signs of poisoning and 9,676 of dog bites.
The report said 21 districts reported 991 cases of tuberculosis, Gujranwala topping the list with 246, followed by Bannu (119) and Bahawalpur (108). Of the 4,017 cases of diseases caused by virus, 71% were those of hepatitis. Gujranwala (579), Bahawalpur (556) and Gujrat (526) were the highest reporting districts. Hepatitis was followed by malaria with 872 cases reported in 15 districts and measles with 238 cases in 12 districts.
Eighteen cases of meningitis - nine each in Gujrat and Killa Abdullah were also reported. On the other hand all the 17 cases of suspected AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) were reported in Sargodha.