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KARACHI: Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal
Disease Prevention (A.S.A.P) is first and only grouping of
its kind in the region formed to specifically focus its resources
on Pneumococcal Disease (PD) prevention in Asia.
The group wants to drive home the message that immediate action
needs to be taken to prevent PD and save lives. Pneumococcal
Disease is one of the most infectious killer diseases today.
Tragically, between 800,000 and 1 million children below five
years old die as a result of PD each year. Every hour that
ticks by, between 80 and 112 children die by the hand of this
killer disease, or roughly between 1,900 and 2,700 child deaths
a day around the world.
Prof.Iqbal Memon, Convener of ASAP Pakistan Chapter said,
“As doctors and parents, we know the devastating impact
the death of a child has on everyone. But you might not be
able to feel the pain and the loss, until it happens to your
own child. We want to tell everyone that this situation is
avoidable - Pneumococcal Disease is preventable by vaccination.
We strongly feel that if more parents, physicians, policy
makers and the decision makers know about the disease and
its prevention, urgent steps will be taken to drastically
reduce the disease burden and appeal to the government of
Pakistan to adopt IPD vaccination in National Immunization
Programme to save millions of children from Killer Pneumococcal
disease. The medical experts from abroad Dr.Chok Wan Chan,President
International Pediatric Association (PA), Prof. Sanath Lambadasuriya,
President Asian Pacific Pediatric Association (APPA), Dr.
Zulkifli Ismail and Dr, Daniel Goh Yam Thiam and the Conveners
of A.S.A.P. Pakistan Chapter Prof, Iqbal Memon, Prof. Sajid
Maqbool and Prof. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta along with Members Prof.
Amir Daud, Prof. Anita Zaidi, Prof Ashraf Sultan, Dr. Ejaz
Khan, Prof Ghulam Raza Baluch, Prof. Khursheed Abbassi, Dr.
Khalid Abbas Bukhari, Prof. M. Asghar Butt, Dr. Nadeem Khawar,
Prof. Pervaiz Akber Khan, Prof, Salma Shaikh, Dr.Tabish Hazir
and Prof. Tahir Masood all attended the briefing. Currently,
the Pneumococcal Conjugated Vaccine or PCV-7 for short, is
the first and only vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal
disease in infants and children younger than 24 months. It
also helps to protect older children upto 9 years old. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the inclusion
of PCV-7 in National Immunization Programs as a priority,
particularly in countries where the mortality rate of children
under 5 years old is greater than 50/1000 live births, or
where more than 50,000 die annually.—RT |
