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New Delhi: Pakistan's
battle against polio has been marred by conflicts, natural
disasters and lack of accountability over the past year and it is
now looking at lessons from India, which has just been taken off
the WHO list of polio-endemic countries.
According to Unicef, Pakistan registered 198 cases of polio in
2011, rising from 144 cases in 2010. Over the last two months, the
country has reported nine cases of polio.
"In the previous plan against polio, war and floods have been the
biggest roadblocks for immunisation and campaigning. We faced
serious issues in accessibility in provinces where war is on and
people, fearing the military, close their doors when immunisation
volunteers or health volunteers arrive," Aziz Memon, national
chairman of the Pakistan Polio Plus committee, told IANS.
"We have groups of Taliban, Pakistan Army, the US - all
concentrating on a region. How to tell each one of them how badly
it is affecting the polio drive and the lives of children in those
regions?" Memon said, adding that Balochistan alone reported 72
cases last year.
Memon said a team exchange is likely between India and Pakistan.
"We have been exchanging notes. But a delegation exchange is
likely in the months to come after an approval from the
government," Memon said. Pakistan will also be pitching in at the
polio booths at Attari and Wagah where India is taking preventive
measures for polio import.
"However, to eradicate polio, we need a good watchdog in Pakistan.
India had a wonderful role played by Unicef and WHO. We hope to
see the same support from these agencies in Pakistan," he
concluded.
Experts say Pakistan requires stronger commitment.
"India has the luxury of a strong central government and relative
security, partnered with state governments that were very
committed to health. Pakistan requires strong provincial
leadership combined with local officials," said Sona Bari,
spokesperson at WHO's global polio eradication initiative, Geneva.
"Where we are facing difficulty is in translating the government's
commitment to the local, sub-district level -- union councils in
the Pakistani administrative system. But there are many lessons
from India for Pakistan, and the people of both countries are
eager to share those lessons," Bari told IANS on e-mail.
Massive floods in 2010 affected regions of central Pakistan, while
Pakistan has also been grappling with implementing vaccination
drives in war-affected Quetta in Balochistan and the districts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that share the border with
Afghanistan.
Representatives from Pakistan's Polio Plus committee,
headquartered in Karachi, and the Pakistan government were in the
Indian capital for a two-day polio summit organised by the
ministry of health and family welfare and Rotary International.
After the failure of the polio emergency plan of 2011, Pakistan
now plans to take forward its augmented national emergency action
plan (NEAP) to fight the disease. NEAP 2011 failed to create an
impact, after which a revised NEAP was launched last month.
The re-designed emergency plan for polio promises a stronger
crackdown by tackling internal migration and tracking children in
conflict-hit regions.
"In the previous emergency plans, there was no clarity on the
roles of certain officers. It is not possible to eradicate the
disease while sitting in AC chambers and not knowing what is going
on in the field," Memon said on the dismal picture after NEAP
2011.
The immunisation drive is expected to intensify in the turmoil-hit
regions as military and religious heads will be involved in
door-to-door campaigns.
According to official statistics from Pakistan's federal ministry
of health, nearly three out of every four cases were reported from
the conflict-affected parts of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Experts say Karachi remains a polio pool as the metropolitan is at
a high risk of receiving the virus due to high migration from
other regions. Sindh reports nearly 25 cases every year.
"Sindh in Karachi has been a potent polio importer. The polio
programmes have not yet covered transit points where more than law
and order, migration and awareness are a problem," Masood Ahmed
Bhalli, chief coordinator of field activity in Sindh, Pakistan
Polio Plus committee, told IANS.
After registering a zero-polio period in the last one year, India
was taken off the list of polio-endemic countries by global health
body WHO Saturday. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria are now the
three endemic countries where the disease remains.
(Madhulika Sonkar can
be contacted at madhulika.s@ians.in)
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