Indus Vitals

IV Report KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on July 28 launched the distribution of 432 motorbikes and seven mobile vans among vaccinators and outreach teams of the Sindh Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), as part of the World Bank-financed National Health Support Programme (NHSP). Speaking at the distribution ceremony, the minister—accompanied by Sindh Health Secretary Rehan Iqbal Baloch—handed over symbolic keys to designated district health officials. She said the newly allocated vehicles, branded with EPI messaging, were aimed at strengthening routine immunisation services and boosting public awareness across communities. The latest initiative follows an earlier phase held on May 16, when EPI distributed 300 motorbikes to support vaccinators working in remote and hard-to-reach areas under a mobility programme financially supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Previously, EPI had also equipped its female vaccinators with 55 scooters. At ...

Sindh EOC (Polio) Coordinator Irshad Ali Sodhar visiting a recently confirmed WPV-1 positive case, a 29-month-old boy, in Hyderaba d district. The long ongoing national struggle against polio virus got another jolt, as health authorities confirmed a new case for 2024 in an eight-year-old boy living in the capital city of Islamabad, taking the country’s polio cases tally to 17, compared to total six of 2023. Reacting to the surge in polio cases, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) labelled it horrible and raised concern over the efficacy of the national polio eradication programme. The PMA stated that the massive increase in cases was a grave public health concern. Today, Pakistan is one of two leftover polio endemic countries in the world along with Afghanistan, which has reported 18 cases so far this year. The increase in polio case figures indicates that Pakistani children are not safe from contracting the dreaded virus and disease, despite continued efforts made in coordinati...