PESHAWAR: A 12-day anti-typhoid vaccination campaign ended in 22 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday with the health department claiming the inoculation of 2.9 million children, little more than the target.

According to health officials, typhoid conjugate vaccine was administered to 2.95 million children against the target of2.93 million children with the help of 2,353 health workers in the province.

They said the campaign was carried out in 22 districts, where high incidence of typhoid fever was reported due to the use of contaminated water and food.

The officials said the department also dispatched two more mobile teams to Sindh province on the latter’s formal request.

12-day inoculation campaign ends in 22 districts

They said two teams consisting of two doctors each along with three well-equipped mobile vehicles had been sent to Sindh province last week as well as anti-malaria drugs and bed nets to Balochistan at the request of the provincial director-general (health).

The officials said the health department was ready to send more supplies as required by the flood-hit parts in both provinces or districts???

They said three mobile hospitals established in Naushero Feroz, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar areas of Sindh province recorded diarrhea and malaria cases due to the use of contaminated water and the presence of mosquito breeding spaces.

The officials said KP’s health teams had checked 6,000 patients in three districts of Sindh during the last four days and provided them with free medicines.

“Our government has provided us with additional amount from the Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund for sending mobile teams, diagnostic kits and medical supplies to flood-hit districts in Balochistan and Sindh. We sent the teams for a month, which can be extended to cater to the needs of the victims of monsoon disaster,” an official told Dawn here.

He said mobile hospitals, which were set up a few years ago to provide health services to the people in remote areas of erstwhile Fata, were used for emergency services after merger of the tribal region with the province.

The official said all 40 staff members of mobile units were volunteers and they included medical specialists, who had opted to help the people in areas vulnerable to diseases.

Meanwhile, the health department said it, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, had started setting up 10 tent hospitals in Lower and Upper Kohistan and Swat districts to provide healthcare to the residents following the destruction of 10 basic health units by the recent flash floods and damage to 154.

It said Rs1.3 billion was required for the repair or reconstruction of BHUs.

Health officials insisted that the World Health Organisation, UNFPA and Unicef had provided healthcare-related support in Dera Ismail Khan, Kohistan, Tank, Charsadda and Nowshera districts worst hit by the last month flooding.

Meanwhile, a news release of the health department said 2.95 million children had been vaccinated in the province during the anti-typhoid campaign with the help of 2,353 health workers.

It quoted Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) director Dr Mohammad Arif Khan as saying that the drive was meant to administer TCV shots to 2.93 million children but inoculated more children.

Meanwhile, a health department report said the incidence of flood-borne diseases in the province is on the decline but dengue and malaria cases are an exception.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2022