Health Minister, Salima Hashmi, while addressing a seminar on 'world immunisation week' has said that provision of preventive vaccination is a fundamental right of every child. Stressing the need of vaccinating children against various diseases, she said that improving routine immunisation is essential for elimination of various diseases.
She said that arrangements for special campaign against measles have been finalised which would make measles prevention vaccination available to the children of six months to ten years of age. She informed that the campaign would be launched during this week to vaccinate six million children who have not been vaccinated before.
She added that an effective awareness against measles disease would also be provided to the citizens along with distribution of pamphlets regarding dengue fever, pneumonia and dysentery by lady health visitors.
Addressing the seminar, renowned pediatricians and health experts urged the government and healthcare NGOs to aggressively work to reduce the infant mortality rate in Pakistan by raising awareness about timely vaccination of children against deadly diseases. Chairman National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), Dr Tariq Bhutta said that the masses should cooperate with the government agencies for the sake of their children in particular and of nation in general.
He said that lack of awareness is hampering the effectiveness of immunisation initiatives as the government has provided free of cost vaccines for 9 deadly diseases at EPI centers across the country but the parents are reluctant to visit the centers probably due to lack of knowledge or some other reasons.
'Pakistan is the third country in the world having high rate of children deaths under the age of 5 years from various infectious diseases and epidemics caused due to improper vaccinations in the children. As many as 424,377 under-five deaths in 2010 were reported in Pakistan,' he added.
He further said that these diseases are widespread and affecting our children through outbreaks particularly in the rural areas of the country. 'For pneumonia and diarrhoea, five countries with the highest death rates were India, Nigeria, Congo, Pakistan and Ethiopia,' he added.
On the occasion, Dr Tahir Masood, Dean Children Hospital, said that without vaccines epidemics of many preventable diseases could return, resulting in increase in unnecessary illness, disability, and death. 'Approximately 3,000,000 deaths are prevented and 750,000 children are saved from disability due to vaccines provided every year to children,' he added.
Pakistan is among the three countries (other two are Afghanistan and Nigeria) with polio-endemic. The pandemic is continued to affect many infants in Pakistan, particularly in small cities and villages. From 2000 to 2011, intensified vaccination campaigns resulted in a 71 percent reduction in measles deaths globally but unfortunately in Pakistan measles outbreak still persist. Besides measles and polio the disease of pneumonia is surging at alarming rate costing lives of many infants particularly in rural areas where the vaccinations of children are not been carried out by their parents.