PAKISTAN: Lack of awareness handicaps anti-measles drive
Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN  | | Rashida, nine years old, is among millions of children in Pakistan today that have never been vaccinated against measles |
LAHORE, 2 April 2008 (IRIN) - “I do not have time to take my children for injections. What’s the use anyway? They’re quite healthy,” Muhammad Zubair, father of two daughters Rashida aged 9 and Momina 3, said in Lahore.
Like millions of other children across Pakistan, his children have not been vaccinated against measles, a potentially fatal childhood disease. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Health, 21,000 children die in Pakistan each year from measles.
The ministry, as part of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), began an 18-day “catch-up” campaign on 17 March, during which it hopes to vaccinate 34 million children against the disease in the Punjab and Islamabad.
“We have set up 76,000 vaccine points in the province and 12,000 teams have been constituted in all districts,” the director-general for health services for the Punjab, Mohammad Aslam Chaudhry, told IRIN in Lahore.
Special arrangements have also been made to preserve the “cold chain” necessary to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective.
As part of the campaign, children aged between 9 months and 13 years are being targeted. Through giant advertisements in the media, health authorities have asked parents to bring them to vaccination camps for the injection to be given.
Lack of awareness
But a lack of awareness means not everyone is ready to take advantage of the campaign and it is now feared many will go unvaccinated.
“I had measles when I was small. I recovered quite quickly,” said Sumera Ahmed, 30, the mother of three children under 12.
They have not yet been vaccinated and Sumera said she was “not yet sure” if she would take them to a camp.
The fact is that most people in the country do not realise that measles, a viral infection of the respiratory system, can lead to major complications, including pneumonia, blindness and inflammation of the brain.
“Even when these complications do not occur, measles is an uncomfortable and quite severe illness. Children need to be protected,” Nauman Khan, a local physician in Lahore, said.
Vitamin A
Medical experts also point out measles can be especially severe in malnourished children, particularly those suffering Vitamin A deficiency.
This means many Pakistani children are at risk, with high rates of under-nourishment and vitamin deficiency reported by the government and international agencies.
The WHO has been promoting a stepped-up drive against measles globally. It reports: “Vaccination has had a major impact on measles deaths. From 2000 to 2006, an estimated 478 million children aged nine months to 14 years received measles vaccine through supplementary immunisation activities in 46 out of the 47 priority countries with the highest burden of measles.”
Pakistan ranks among these countries, but at present a lack of awareness among people as to the risks posed by the disease is handicapping anti-measles campaigns and this factor will need to be more effectively addressed if the rate of measles infection is to be brought down and lives saved over the coming years, say health experts.
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