EOC COMMUNICATION UPDATE Issue no.146 IVv a EOC Communication update 146th Edition WWW.ENDPOLIO.COM.PK ISSUE NO. 146 – JANUARY 12, 2017 As poliovirus continue to haunt Sindh, CM urges teams to step-up efforts Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that all stakeholders should work hard for eradication of polio and save the children from disability. He expressed these views while chairing a meeting of Provincial Task Force for Polio in Karachi on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by MNA Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mendhro,, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, IGP AD Khowaja, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Mr. Adl IG Karachi Mushtaq Mahar, all divisional commissioners, PM’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq and NEOC Coordinator Dr. Rana Safdar. Briefing the Chief Minister, Provincial Coordinator for Polio Eradication Fayaz Jatoi said that the first polio case of 2017 was detected in August in UC-13 Gulshan-e-Iqbal and another case emerged in November 2017 in UC- 4 Gadap, Karachi. The chief minister was told that in 2014, there 30 polio cases in the province, including 23 in Karachi. In 2015 the polio cases came down to 12 with seven in the city and in 2016 8 cases were detected, including one in Karachi and in 2017 only two cases have been detected and both were in the city. Talking about environmental samples taken from different areas/cities for detecting polio virus, Mr jatoi said that Sukkur city showed positive report in September in 2017, New Sukkur in April, Jacobabad in August and September and then in November, Kambar positive in August, 2017. The areas of Karachi which showed polio positive reports include Sohrab Goth, Machhar Colony, Khamiso Goth (Gadap Town), Chaora Nala, Rashid Minhas (Gulshan Town), Mohammad Khan Colony of Baldia Town, Bakhtawar village – Landhi, Orangi nala area of SITE Town and Korangi Nala area. The areas of Karachi that showed polio-positive reports include Sohrab Goth, Machhar Colony, Khamiso Goth in Gadap Town, Chaora Nala, Rashid Minhas in Gulshan Town, Mohammad Khan Colony in Baldia Town, Bakhtawar village – the Landhi, Orangi Nullah area of SITE Town – and the Korangi Nullah area, added Jatoi. CM directed the concerned ministries and departments to prioritize provisions of sanitation and safe drinking water in 30 identified low performing UCs in Karachi. EOC COMMUNICATION UPDATE | ISSUE NO. 146 2 Pakistan starts new year anti Polio drive with a focus on HRMP Islamabad, Jan 2017 - The first national campaign of 2018 will kick start from Monday across all provinces, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan except for Karachi. Over 260,000 health workers and support staff will be administering polio drops to almost 38 million under five children during the next five days. Campaign in Karachi was delayed due to administrative reasons and will be starting from 22nd January. Urging the parents to cooperate with the visiting Sehat Muhafiz in their areas, National Coordinator for Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Dr Rana Mohammad Safdar has urged the frontline health workers to continue their hard work till we cross the finish line in this fight against polio. He said that we are pleased to see that over 99 per cent targets are met during every campaign but we are still concerned for those minor percentage of missed children who are missed because either they are travelling or sleeping when our teams visit their houses. “We have asked the teams to continue their good work of vaccinating all children but their focus during 2018 should be on all such children who are travelling or missed because of any reason.” As per the global watchdog like International Monetary Board (IMB) and Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Pakistan has achieved the best ever epidemiological picture in 2017. Only eight cases were reported from seven districts during 2017 as against 20 cases from 14 districts in 2016. The progress is even more commendable if we look at 306 cases in 2014. There is a 60 per cent reduction in cases when we compare 2016 with 2017. EOC COMMUNICATION UPDATE | ISSUE NO. 146 3 Number of missed children proportion is less than 0.1 per cent which shows that parents are cooperating and vaccinating their children. Though number of cases have gone down during 2017 but polio virus continues to play hide and seek across Pakistan as it continued to be detected in the environmental samples across Punjab, KP, Balochistan and Sindh. Proactive disease surveillance mechanism is helping the program to timely detect virus from 53 environmental sampling sites across all provincial and national territories to help develop strategies and action plans to defeat the circulating virus. Punjab Polio campaign will be launched in 3665 union councils of 36 districts in Punjab where more than 19 million children will be vaccinated in high risk districts of the province. Over 32 thousand teams of Sehat Muhafiz will go door to door to vaccinate children below the age of five. There has been only once case reported from district Lodhran of Punjab during 2017 but there have been some positive environmental samples in 2016 from central and south Punjab districts. Sindh Except for all eight districts of Karachi, this campaign will be launched in rest of Sindh where over 7.2 million under five children will be the target of the teams. Teams comprising of over 41 thousand health workers will be administering polio drops during the next five days. There have been two cases reported from Sindh (Both from Karachi) during 2017 while environmental samples were also recorded positive from Karachi and interior Sindh during the past year. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa More than 5.7 million children will be administered anti-polio drops during five-day campaign in the province. Provincial EOC has deputed over 28 thousand heath workers to carry out this national duty in 1022 union councils of 26 districts of the province. There has been only once case from KP during 2017 but environmental samples remained positive from Peshawar and south KP districts. FATA/PATA In 13 agencies and FR areas of tribal belt, over 1.25 million children will be administered polio drops during this campaign by over 6240 health workers. The teams have been deputed in 386 union councils of these agencies. FATA has remained polio free throughout 2017 and the last case reported from SWA was in November 2016. Almost all FAA agencies except one borders neighboring Afghanistan. Balochistan During five-day anti-polio drive in 714 union councils of 34 districts in Balochistan over ten thousand health workers will be targeting 2.46 million under five children. Three cases were reported from Balochistan during 2017 with the latest one from district Zhob in November 2017. The district also has recorded positive environmental samples throughout the year. Balochistan shares long border with Afghanistan. Gilgit Baltistan In 110 union councils of 11 districts in Gilgit Baltistan over two thousand health workers will be administering polio drops to 0.24 million children during the next five days. First case of 2017 appeared from this northern administrative province of Pakistan after staying free of polio for almost four years. Azad Jammu & Kashmir Nearly three quarters of a million (0.75 million) under five children will be administered polio drops during the five-day campaign across 204 union councils of 10 districts in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Historically this region has remained polio free and vaccination rates are also considered almost 100%. EOC COMMUNICATION UPDATE | ISSUE NO. 146 4 Polio case update: PROVINCE 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 PUNJAB 7 9 2 7 5 2 0 1 SINDH 27 33 4 10 30 12 8 2 KPK 24 23 27 11 68 17 8 1 FATA 74 59 20 65 179 16 2 0 BALOCHISTAN 12 73 4 0 25 7 2 3* GILGIT-BALTISTAN 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTAL 144 198 58 93 306 54 20 8 * Last reported case from Killa Abdullah, Balochistan province on November 13, 2017 (Onset Date). ************************ .