Immunization coverage in Balochistan
Immunization coverage in Balochistan
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Balochistan, the area wise largest province of the country is marked with a percentage of only 16% fully immunized children this is the lowest position among the provinces of Pakistan the major reason behind this alarming situation is inadequate allocation of financial and human resource to Expanded Program on Immunization that works for the immunization of children in the country.

Balochistan, the area wise largest province of the country is marked with a percentage of only 16% fully immunized children this is the lowest position among the provinces of Pakistan the major reason behind this alarming situation is inadequate allocation of financial and human resource to Expanded Program on Immunization that works for the immunization of children in the country.

Management of the program at the provincial and district level, on availability of data regarding the population figures vaccine availability storage handling and above all awareness and willingness of the masses to get their children vaccinated are all the causes that have kept  Balochistan at the lowest spot in immunizing its children

EPI review meeting for the third quarter of 2017 revealed some alarming figures but on the other hand there were certain positive aspects to the activities as well the report revealed a growth of 74% in penta1  type of vaccine , 50% in penta3,52% in IPV, 53%in measles type1 and 26% in measles type2 vaccination across the province

Minster for health Balochistan Rehmat Saleh Baloch in his address made to delegates of Gavi, UNICEF and

WHO stated that Government of Balochistan  realizing  the  importance of immunization has taken serious measures to increase immunization rate and for the first time in last 30 years routine immunization has reached to highest of 70% instead of previous high rate of 16% ,he said that the grant for EPI has been raised to 770 million per year which was only 0.7 million for the last 25 years ,487 EPI centers all over the province  have been made functional and in coming year 300 more centers will be established. He further stated that cold storage in six divisions is currently active the government has provided 26 new vehicles ,382 motorbikes , 34 computers , 34 laptops,600 mobile phones and furniture to 487 centers in order to improve the reach of EPI in the province there is also a program for the free of cost vaccine for hepatitis B on going with the expenditure of 170 million rupees

The c has been low and it needs to be improved but the government needs to set ambitious targets for improving the immunization coverage and has to invest significant resources to reach the goals. The ongoing zeal of the government has given a hope of immunizing the children of Balochistan but the international donor agencies and the people of Balochistan also need to invest in this noble cause.