A.Rafay
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2012
- Messages
- 11,400
- Reaction score
- 10
- Country
- Location
Islamabad
The World Health Organisation, Unicef and the Prime Ministers Polio Cell Monday claimed a major decline in the number of families refusing anti-polio drops to their children.
According to data jointly released by the polio partners, the number of refusing families has declined from 80,330 during the first national anti-polio round held in January 2012 to 45,122 in October 2012, implying thereby that 35,208 families that had previously refused polio immunisation for their children have been covered in the recently held national door-to-door anti-polio campaign.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 15,663 families refused anti-polio drops during the October polio campaign as against 34,966 families during the January 2012 round. Similarly, the number of refusals in Punjab has declined from 6,233 in January to 1,702 in October. Balochistan, Sindh and Fata also recorded a sharp decline with 10,100, 17,100 and 455 children being missed in the October anti-polio round as against 12,813, 23,244 and 3,014 children during the January round.
The success achieved notwithstanding, every unvaccinated child constitutes a major challenge. It is a cause of grave concern that polio teams across the country have still missed 484,344 children during the last polio round, stated the senior coordinator for polio eradication at WHO Dr. Elias Durry, while expressed concern over polio teams persistently missing the same children that have remained unvaccinated for the last many campaigns.
According to Dr. Durry, the biggest hurdle that prevents Pakistan from attaining polio-free status is the number of children who are persistently being missed during campaigns. It took countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran very few rounds to eradicate polio because their secret ingredient was the ability to vaccine each and every child, he said, further quoting the example of Iran, which became polio-free after conducting only four national door-to-door campaigns.
Where officials and polio teams deserve due credit for converting families that previously refused polio drops, we need to take adequate steps to ensure that the number of children missed for reasons other than refusals is also brought down, special assistant to the Prime Minster Shahnaz Wazir Ali says in the joint statement.
Commenting on the final results of the polio campaign, Unicefs chief of polio Dennis King said a lot of work is yet to be done before Pakistan stands in the proud row of polio-free nations. There is still work to be done on remaining refusals and especially on kids who are consistently missed and have never been reached by vaccinators, he stated.
Pakistan has reported 47 polio cases during the current year as against 113 cases during the corresponding period last year.
Sharp decline in families refusing anti-polio drops - thenews.com.pk
The World Health Organisation, Unicef and the Prime Ministers Polio Cell Monday claimed a major decline in the number of families refusing anti-polio drops to their children.
According to data jointly released by the polio partners, the number of refusing families has declined from 80,330 during the first national anti-polio round held in January 2012 to 45,122 in October 2012, implying thereby that 35,208 families that had previously refused polio immunisation for their children have been covered in the recently held national door-to-door anti-polio campaign.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 15,663 families refused anti-polio drops during the October polio campaign as against 34,966 families during the January 2012 round. Similarly, the number of refusals in Punjab has declined from 6,233 in January to 1,702 in October. Balochistan, Sindh and Fata also recorded a sharp decline with 10,100, 17,100 and 455 children being missed in the October anti-polio round as against 12,813, 23,244 and 3,014 children during the January round.
The success achieved notwithstanding, every unvaccinated child constitutes a major challenge. It is a cause of grave concern that polio teams across the country have still missed 484,344 children during the last polio round, stated the senior coordinator for polio eradication at WHO Dr. Elias Durry, while expressed concern over polio teams persistently missing the same children that have remained unvaccinated for the last many campaigns.
According to Dr. Durry, the biggest hurdle that prevents Pakistan from attaining polio-free status is the number of children who are persistently being missed during campaigns. It took countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran very few rounds to eradicate polio because their secret ingredient was the ability to vaccine each and every child, he said, further quoting the example of Iran, which became polio-free after conducting only four national door-to-door campaigns.
Where officials and polio teams deserve due credit for converting families that previously refused polio drops, we need to take adequate steps to ensure that the number of children missed for reasons other than refusals is also brought down, special assistant to the Prime Minster Shahnaz Wazir Ali says in the joint statement.
Commenting on the final results of the polio campaign, Unicefs chief of polio Dennis King said a lot of work is yet to be done before Pakistan stands in the proud row of polio-free nations. There is still work to be done on remaining refusals and especially on kids who are consistently missed and have never been reached by vaccinators, he stated.
Pakistan has reported 47 polio cases during the current year as against 113 cases during the corresponding period last year.
Sharp decline in families refusing anti-polio drops - thenews.com.pk
