UNICEF Pakistan in joint collaboration with the Ministry of Health, MKRF and SAMAA TV has launched the landmark initiative by establishing the Polio Control Cell to cater complaints regarding unavailability of the polio teams or requirement of information to the disease and other vaccinations. This time the Polio Control Cell will work from July 22-24, 2009.
SAMAA TV played a leading role in carrying out awareness campaigns reinforcing the importance of the Polio eradication program and encouraging parents and families to call the Polio Control Cell in case of any complaints, requirement of information related to vaccinations or lack of teams visiting their area.
In this important campaign SAMAA TV is joined by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF Pakistan, Lahore Traffic Police and the Mir Khalil-ur-Rehman Foundation (MKRF). The three-day round will target over 33.9 million children. This time, trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine is being administered to guard children against all three forms of poliovirus namely types 1, 2 and 3. With 21 polio cases reported so far this year, every new case from any part of the country is seen as a cause for alarm. Pakistan has 118 polio cases during 2008, which is an increase of more than 86 cases since 2007.
According to the Extended Program on Immunization (EPI) Chief, Dr. Altaf Bosan, 87,110 vaccination teams, 15,493 area supervisors and 2,735 zonal supervisors will participate and support campaign implementation all over Pakistan. Campaign activities will also be monitored by 775 campaign support persons. A total of 39.6 million doses of polio vaccine are being provided by EPI to all the four provinces as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Federally Administrated Northern Areas (FANA) and the Islamabad, the Capital Territory. Besides these, all other logistics including social mobilization materials, tally sheets, missed children recording forms and finger markers have also been distributed all over the country.
Minister for Health Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani launched the national campaign by administering polio vaccine to children at a ceremony held at the National Institute of Health (NIH) here. The national manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunization Dr. Altaf Bosan, acting World Health Organization (WHO) Representative Dr. Ahmed Shadoul, Chief of Public Health-UNICEF Dr. Hem Sharma, and Executive Director of NIH Dr. Birjeez Qazi were also present on the occasion.
Minister for Health Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani said “It is exciting to see more and more partners joining hands with the Ministry of Health to ensure our children are protected from polio.” He further said “the government is committed to protecting the children of Pakistan from the scourge of polio. We need to reach out to every eligible child, which itself is a huge task and can only be accomplished with the collaboration of all stakeholders including the media”. Mr. Jakhrani applauded the media for playing a proactive role in waging a war against disease and disability. He especially hailed SAMAA TV’s efforts for leading from the front in this initiative.
Talking about partnerships, Chief Executive Officer of SAMAA TV, Amir Jahangir said “this is a good start to this year’s polio campaign, with more partners and further support from media entities for the eradication of polio from the country; we must unite against all evils in the society for the betterment of our future generation.”
SAMAA TV, in joint collaboration with, UNICEF Pakistan and the Ministry of Health was the first media channel in Pakistan to establish a Polio Control Cell aimed at acting as an information bridge between the citizens and the polio control authorities. The cell, first of its kind provided instant information on the initiative to callers in the length and breadth of the country besides performing the vital task of identifying missed areas and children. Since its establishment in October 2008, more than 35,000 children have been ensured the vaccination against the polio virus, who otherwise would have been included as the missed targets during the campaigns. The Polio Control Cell has also received high acknowledgement at the international forums, where Mr. Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the Director General World Health Organization, Dr. M. Chan has applauded the SAMAA model as “THE PAKISTAN MODEL” and called it a role model to be replicated in other epidemic developing countries. The model has also been commended at the Stanford University as one of the prime Innovation Journalism case studies at the 6th Innovation Journalism Conference held in May 2009.
This year along with SAMAA TV, MKR Foundation with its affiliates of GEO network are establishing the Special Polio Control Cells to track missed out children. The EPI has reached out more then 35,000 missed children by employing this strategy.
According to WHO, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, which together accounted for 1,514 polio cases in 2008, or 91 per cent of all cases. The number of polio cases reported annually has decreased by more than 99 per cent – from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,660 cases in 2008. Pakistan has 118 polio cases during 2008, which is an increase of more than 86 cases since 2007.
In April 2009, the VINNOVA-Stanford Research Center of Innovation Journalism honored Mr. Amir Jahangir as the Program Advisor to the Research Center on Global Media Development and Journalism. Mr. Jahangir has also played a crucial role in improving health reporting from Pakistan. He also received the special award for Innovations in Health Journalism from the Ministry of Health and UNICEF for creating the concept of the Polio Control Cell. Mr. Jahangir is known for being a media person carrying out health related initiatives to improve the overall health indicators of Pakistan; the special award was presented for his contribution and efforts towards the eradication of polio across Pakistan earlier in July 2009.
