KARACHI: Experts warn about increasing incidence of measles in Sindh because of waning awareness among the people with regard to vaccinating their children against the disease, a claim that the provincial health ministry has denied.

“The number of people vaccinating their children at the government’s facilities against measles is miserably declining, and such situation demands some motivational campaigns by the government,” said Dr Jamal Raza, president of the Pakistan Paediatric Association, while speaking to Dawn.

He said as the ‘season’ of measles was here, the number of children with the ailment was increasing at government as well as private hospitals. “It has to be taken care of properly, or we should be ready for an outbreak of the disease in future,” said Dr Raza, who heads the National Institute of Child Health (NICH).

Some government officials claimed the situation was not that grim and there was no chance of measles outbreak in near future. “The season is already on but we have not noticed any major outbreak or incidence of the disease,” said Karachi health director Dr Mohammad Taufeeq.

He said the relevant authorities had been conducting vaccination for the disease.

Officials in the health ministry said the measles vaccination coverage improved from 45 per cent to 53pc over the past two years. However, they added, the figures were still not very encouraging. “Such vaccination has to be 90pc or so, but it also needs the role of parents to help us [improve],” said a senior official.

Dr Raza said the government should invest in awareness campaigns or else the decades-long effort against the disease through expensive vaccination would fail to bring the desired result.

“Parents need to be motivated to get their children vaccinated, which will not only be good for their health but will also positively contribute to the overall national health profile,” he added.

He said measles was a fatal disease that could be prevented by getting the affected child vaccinated first in nine months and for the second time in 15 months. The officials said they had recorded six cases of measles in Keamari town only this month. Measles being an infectious disease could spread from one child to another, they said.

“As the reports about it reached the health authorities in the town, they increased their effort by carrying out a special campaign there,” said a senior official.

The paediatrics association warned the health authorities that the disease could affect more children if awareness campaigns were not launched, as most parts of Karachi had reported measles cases recently.

A provincial minister said the chief minister had ordered relevant officials to take such alerts by experts seriously. “A state of health emergency is in place in Sindh. We’ll take care of the suggestions given by the PPA and other medical bodies,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017