Report by Akhlaq Kashar;
MUZAFFARABAD (Parliament Times):In these modern times, only the new generation is protected from diseases and can play an important role in the development of the country. Health facilities are the responsibility of the state. Today, The environment is being shaped by sociology, the germs that cause diseases are becoming stronger instead of weaker every day. In these cases, the spread of diseases like measles and rubella in children is usually increased, therefore a special campaign has been launched to prevent these diseases. Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Health, Government of Pakistan has launched a national campaign against measles and rubella across the country from 15th November. To prevent Measles and Rubella Government of Azad Kashmir Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, Minister of Public Health of Azad Kashmir Nisar Ansar Abdali, Chief Secretary of Azad Kashmir, Public Health Secretary Major General Ahsan Altaf, Special Secretary Sohail Azam, Director General Public Health Azad Kashmir Dr Sardar Aftab Hussain and Provincial Program Manager EPI Azad Kashmir Dr Abdul Sattar Khan Abbasi are overseeing the campaign. The highlight of the campaign, launched in collaboration with UNICEF, is that it is being touted as the world’s largest campaign to prevent the spread of the disease to children aged 9 months to 15 years. During the same campaign, children up to the age of five will also be vaccinated against polio.The campaign, which started on November 15 across Azad Jammu and Kashmir, will continue uninterrupted for two weeks and will end on November 27. A 12-day campaign has been launched, according to which a target has been set to vaccinate 1,685,571 children. The campaign will continue across Azad Kashmir from November 15 to November 27.370 EPI Centers, 1874 Outreach Teams 4488 Trained Workers Team Stunt 419 Social Mobilizer Campaign. 449 First Level Supervisors, 220 Union Council Supervisors, 199 Tehsil Level Supervisors District Education Officers All Deputy Commissioners of Women, 60 District Officers of Health Department and 15 Provincial Managers of EPI Office Supervisors have been assigned the responsibility of making the campaign a success. Centers and educational institutions are participating together. The reason for involving educational institutions in this campaign is that out of millions of children, 50 percent are enrolled in schools. Vaccination will not stop once the campaign is over, but the MR vaccine will continue to be available in the immunization schedule for children aged 9 months and 15 months. Measles and rubella are contagious diseases and they are at risk. These diseases can cause serious complications for children and if the disease worsens, death can occur. Fortunately, there is a vaccine to prevent these diseases and now it is the responsibility of the government as well as parents and society as a whole to make this campaign a success. According to Dr. Abdul Sattar Khan Abbasi Rubella makes children very sick and sometimes even kills. In recent years there has been a sharp rise in cases of these diseases across the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir like Pakistan which has affected thousands of children and has resulted in deaths so it is imperative to ensure that every child is vaccinated against these diseases. According to Dr. Palitha Maipala, Head of the Pakistan Chapter of the World Health Organization, the measles and rubella vaccine can be used to control these contagious diseases.Over the last few years, special attention has been paid to the immunization program in Pakistan, which has shown excellent results, and now a comprehensive program is being implemented to ensure that every child is vaccinated to control these diseases on a permanent basis. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease and its specialty is that if a child is not vaccinated against it, he or she can become infected at any age.The contagion of the disease can be estimated from the fact that the virus can infect up to 90% of healthy people around the infected person who have not been vaccinated. This is why people and children infected with measles need to be kept away from healthy people or children. Early symptoms include watery eyes, red eyes, and itchy nose after being infected with the virus. These include headaches, backaches, coughs and sore throats. As the disease progresses, the patient’s lungs, intestines, and brain may also be affected. According to medical experts, the symptoms of measles include redness of the face, neck, arms, and outer skin of the body, and the formation of small rashes. Complaints of constipation, loss of appetite, bay after being infected with the virus It is also common to feel drowsy and drowsy. After the onset of the disease, the patient has a high fever for the first two days, while the fever begins to subside from the third day, and most patients recover from the fever by the eighth day. Symptoms of the virus usually appear within ten to twelve days of the virus entering the body and the infected person may develop red spots or rashes on the body from four days before to four days after the virus. The virus can be passed to others. It is important to mention here that the virus that causes measles is also present in the clothes of the infected person due to which handling of used clothes of measles patients requires great care. Individuals or children should consume water and fresh fruits and other healthy beverages. Likewise, children and adults affected by measles should consume adequate amounts of dried fruits, especially mangoes and figs. The general diet of patients should be soft and easily digested and they should avoid meat, milk, fish, and spicy foods. Remember that people with measles already have a weakened immune system As the disease progresses, they need to take special care of a healthy and balanced diet during and after the disease. During the current campaign, vaccines against measles and rubella are being developed along with measles. The disease is also called “German measles” and is caused by a virus similar to measles. Symptoms of this disease include large and small red rashes on the body.These include fever, headache, anxiety, enlarged lymph nodes, respiratory problems and conjunctivitis. If women develop the disease during pregnancy, especially in the third month of pregnancy, it can lead to genetic abnormalities in their unborn children, hearing and vision loss, heart and brain structure. The risk of infection increases. The rubella virus can also be transmitted to healthy people through infected people’s nasal and throat secretions. Like measles, rubella is a highly contagious disease and the effects of the disease can spread from one week to one week after the appearance of red spots on an infected person’s body. An effective vaccine is available, but it is important that every child receives the MMR vaccine according to his or her vaccination schedule, as well as during the recent campaign.Children from 9 months to 15 years of age should be vaccinated. Children are our future and our primary responsibility is to keep our future healthy, fit and strong. So that our newborns are safe from these diseases. Start protecting future generations today.Provincial Program Manager EPI Azad Kashmir Dr. Abdul Sattar Khan Abbasi added that measles is very common in children. It embraces not thousands but millions of children. It is spread by a virus so there is no cure for it but the disease can be controlled with immunizations. It is therefore important that the course of immunization of the child is completed in any case.And if you ever miss a vaccine, get your children vaccinated again when the government launches this vaccine. Children who are vaccinated are more likely to get the disease if they are infected. Despite the immunizations, children are more likely to get the disease if they have a weakened immune system. At the onset of the disease the patient feels tired and feverish.The eyes begin to water. Then within 3 or 7 days the rash comes out which spreads all over the body. The patient is in great pain. After that, if pneumonia occurs, the patient’s condition becomes more serious. The infection can then spread to the kidneys and injure the body’s membranes. Children who develop severe pneumonia with measles and who are already malnourished find it difficult to avoid.Komat has started re-vaccinating against measles. Therefore, the public is requested to re-vaccinate the children who missed the first dose for any reason and to protect their child from this contagious disease. Similarly, rubella is a disease which is also called three days measles. It also causes fever and rashes. Its damage is more in girls than in boys. As you know today’s girls are tomorrow’s mothers so if these girls are protected today then the next generation will be safe. Because the girls who are not vaccinated and they get the disease, in the future it will have an effect on their children. When such girls are born with hope, their children get heart and eye diseases.Therefore, if you protect girls, they will not get rubella during pregnancy. Even before this, the role of the media has been commendable.
