Of measles, inadequate vaccination and floods

After targeted killings, suicide bombings, unanticipated closures and a hard-to-manage fiscal situation, it is measles turn to take a toll from the country.
The unfortunate part is that the victims are innocent children, hardly aware of the socio-economic-political vagaries significantly affecting the country they live in.
Over 300 children died of the disease in 2012, the outbreak having occurred mainly in Sindh, the area primarily affected by floods during the last three years. Just when the locals had begrudgingly started accepted that floods will be a regular feature in their lives, the natural calamity threw another curve-ball at those affected in the form of this disease.
The World Health Organisations Maryam Yunus was quoted by Press TV, "Floods, displacements and food shortages have played a major role behind these deaths."
Because of the floods, many areas are also believed to have become inaccessible to health workers.
As if that wasn enough, the WHO has also claimed one of the causes of death to be post-measles complications such as pneumonia, post-measles encephalitis and diarrhea. "Some 103 Pakistani children have died from Jan 1 to Jan 19 this year because of the post-measles complications, said Yunus.
Needless to say, the efficacy of treatment, even after the disease has been diagnosed, remains questionable. Add to these misfortunes the slack attitude in terms of government vaccination, and ones got the perfect recipe for an outbreak.
"Measles is a highly contagious viral infection and children under five years are most vulnerable... To be successful, we must ensure that virtually all children between nine and 59 months are vaccinated against the disease," said a Unicef press release in response to a measles outbreak in Tanzania in 2011.
Obviously, the recommendations apply to Pakistan as well. Inter Press Service expressed its doubts over official claims of 82 percent children under five having been vaccinated in Sindh, quoting Dr D S Akram, founder of HELP - a non-governmental organisation working on maternal and child health in several districts of Sindh - as saying that the vaccination is around 50 percent at best.
When the government has given widespread attention to polio, it ought to realise that other childhood diseases need to be eradicated too. Pakistan has a long way to go in terms of child healthcare, but the federal and respective provincial governments have to be wary of how a flailing health system could be disastrous for the coming generations, the so-called demographic strength of Pakistan.