Ghulam Bibi, 20, from a village near the town of Sheikhpura, about 100km north of Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, is struggling to feed her month-old son, Muhammad Hussain.
The infant is burning with a high fever. His father, Muhammad Rahim, 26, a rickshaw driver, said: "We fear he has diphtheria. The doctors say it is just a viral infection, but we are concerned because he has not been vaccinated."
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), only 11 cases of diphtheria were reported in Pakistan in 2007 and 42 in 2006. The government's Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) established nationwide in 1981 has played a big part.
The National Institute of Health in Islamabad said the programme targeted seven vaccine-preventable diseases, including poliomyelitis, tetanus and neonatal tetanus, diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), measles and childhood forms of tuberculosis. It has also recently introduced the Hepatitis-B immunisation for children under one, dramatically reducing the incidence of the disease.
However, parents such as those of Muhammad Hussain are concerned because in government health facilities across the Punjab, a severe shortage of some vaccines, including the combined diphtheria, Pertussis, tetanus (DPT) and Hepatitis-B shot is being reported.
On average, 25,000 doses of this vaccine are administered to children in one month alone in Lahore, reported The News, quoting health department sources.
 Photo: David Swanson/IRIN  |
| The shortage of vaccines has been continuing for well over a month, say doctors |
The shortage has been continuing for well over a month, according to doctors. Ahsan Waheed Rathore, medical director of the Children's Hospital in Lahore, told the newspaper: "Available stocks have been exhausted and new supplies to the hospital have been stopped."
"There is a problem, but it is being resolved," HB Memon, the national programme manager for the EPI, told IRIN.
"UNICEF [the UN Children’s Agency] procures the drug for us, but there has been a delay because it is being imported from India and this often takes long because of technicalities and long procedures involved in imports from India," Memon said. He said two million doses of the vaccine would be available by 10 September.
"We have also acquired a combined vaccine that apart from DPT and Hepatitis-B also protects against strains of pneumonia and meningitis. This is also to be provided very soon," he said.
But this offers little reassurance to first-time parents desperately seeking vaccinations.
"Both my wife and I are educated. When village elders say sickness is the doing of Allah, we know they are wrong. Vaccines can help protect children. But what can one do when there are not available?" asked Rahim.
Rahim said he first tried to get his son inoculated in Sheikhpura, and then took him in his rickshaw to Lahore. "It took us over two hours to get there. Maybe the exposure to the dust in my open, three-wheel vehicle made him sick."
He said the vaccine they needed was not available at even the "big hospitals", and "it was too expensive for me to buy in the market". The child has, however, been inoculated against polio and tuberculosis. "We want to give him the best start in life," said his wife.
 Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN |
| Awareness about the need to vaccinate children is high among parents |
Across most of Punjab, awareness about the benefits of vaccination is growing.
Rahim's neighbour, Ahmed Suleiman, said proudly: "All my four children are vaccinated. We also boil our water and that is why my family, by the grace of God, is healthy."
Similar views prevail elsewhere. "We were not given injections but we realise our children should be," said Nazia Kulsoom, about 30, who lives in a shantytown in Lahore.
She understood how useful vaccines were after her eldest daughter, now nine, fell sick three years ago with measles and doctors "told me how she could have been saved from all that suffering with just one shot".
Her daughter, Sana, added: "Our teachers at the government school I go to also say vaccines and hand-washing are important."
kh/at/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
