Pakistan Urban Forum South Asian Cities Conference (PUF-SACC) to promote Karachi’s soft image

Pakistan Urban Forum South Asian Cities Conference (PUF-SACC) was a 4- day conference that took place at Frere Hall Karachi from in January 2014.

The directorate of urban policy and strategic planning government of Sindh, Urban Unit government of Punjab, The South Asian Institute of Harvard University, and the Institute of Architects Pakistan put in a joint effort to organize this conference

Conference was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Alis Shah at a glittering ceremony at Mohatta palace Karachi on a cool evening on 9^th January. Scrumptious Pakistani cuisine was served to all the delegates, speakers & guests who were present at this occasion. 

During the conference many issue pertaining to Urbanization, economy, environment, health, and transportation were discussed. The speakers during the sessions not only highlighted the issues faced by the cities of South Asia and Pakistan but also gave detailed solution to overcome the existing problems

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal graced the first session of this conference. Speaking at the first session of Pakistan Urban Forum — South Asian Cities Conference (PUF-SACC) at the Frere Hall lawns, he said that we in Pakistan are great in planning but we mess up in management and development.

During the conference total 24 sessions were held in which experts from 15 countries joined the experts from Pakistan and carry out in-depth discussion on various issues pertaining to unplanned urbanization being faced

Rahul Mehrotra, Professor and chair Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University was one of the major attractions for conference participants. Rahul Mehrotra through his expert opinion enlighten the audience about the problems faced by the cities    was of the view that bad governance is the most crucial problem being faced by all the cities of South Asian region.

An exhibition area was also set up at the outskirts of conference venue where various organizations, educational institutions and sponsors set up stall to provide information about their activities. Out of many stalls at exhibition area, an organization named Brooks Pakistan caught my attention. This organization is working to create awareness about animal’s rights. They provide free medical treatment to ailing animals and also educate owners about the steps they need to take in order to keep their animals healthy. In Pakistan’s scenario I can say that their work is really unique. Although most organizations at exhibition area distributing brochures & pamphlets to highlight their projects, but national disaster management cell & world bank used technology to highlight themselves. National Institute of Disaster Management provide a CD containing their activities but World Bank went a step ahead and give out  a USB to the people visiting their stalls.

Conference proceedings get extensive coverage in print and electronic media. Three major English language newspapers of Pakistan that is Dawn, Express Tribune and The News through their coverage proved a point that they understand the problems caused by unplanned Urbanization and are ready to play a positive role in finding solution of these problems.

This conference I am sure will play a pivotal role in promoting Karachi’s soft image. The foreigners present at the venue were very excited about their visit to Pakistan. Commenting about Karachi Rahul Mehrotra, Professor and chair Department of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University said that Karachi is a unique city and efforts must be made by city administration to maintain the uniqueness of Karachi.

Karchietes in large numbers attend this conference and learn from the experience shared by experts during the many sessions of Pakistan Urban Forum South Asian Cities Conference

I hope that in future various organizations and institutions will continue to organize more conferences, seminars and other similar activities.

Global Study on Diarrhoea Finds New Culprit in Pakistan, Recommends Fresh Interventions

The Global Enteric Multicenter Study, GEMS, an extensive, ground-breaking study in the developing world, has come up with the clearest picture yet of the most common causes and impact of diarrheal diseases — the second leading killer of young children globally after pneumonia.

The study reveals that while the germs, rotavirus, Shigella and E. Coli are notorious for causing the majority of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea cases, Cryptosporidiumand Aeromonas are two pathogens that have been underestimated for their ability to cause the disease.

At the same time, GEMS recommends going beyond the current safe hand and hygiene practices to treat diarrhoea, and that National immunisation programmes should include vaccinations for rotavirus and other bacteria for which inoculations are available.

The results of GEMS have been published in this week’s edition of The Lancet. 

“When it comes to childhood disease and deaths, diarrhoea remains a leading culprit,” said Dr Anita Zaidi, principal investigator at the Pakistan study site of GEMS and Chair, Department of Paediatrics, Aga Khan University. “The GEMS data are the most conclusive evidence we have to date of the bacteria we must target and the prevention and treatment practices that need to be improved.”       

The three-year-long GEMS enrolled more than 20,000 children from seven sites across Asia and Africa; in Pakistan, the study was conducted in four peri-urban field sites in Bin Qasim Town in Karachi. 

“The University has been working at these field sites for the past few years and had basic data on the population. So it was easy for us to build on it,” Dr Zaidi elaborated. “To really know if something was causing diarrhoea, we included an equal number of controls. When we collected a stool sample from a sick child, we also collected one from a well child  for comparison. Each stool sample was tested for 40 different diarrhoea causing pathogens. Many of these bugs were being tested for the first time in Pakistan." 

Each child was followed up at home after 60 days to assess the effect on his or her growth after standard treatment was given.

Similar to other sites in the study, AKU researchers found that rotavirus, Shigella, Cryptosporidium and Enterotoxigenic E. Coli (ETEC) were the leading causes of diarrheal disease; prior to GEMS, Cryptosporidium was not considered a major cause of the disease.

Uniquely, in the Pakistan and Bangladesh sites, Aeromonas, another type of bacteria, was the second leading cause of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea, confirming its regional importance.

The researchers also found concrete evidence that the effects of diarrhoea were far more than immediate: height delays were significant among children under 5 in Pakistan in the two months following the diarrheal episode as compared to children in the control group without diarrhoea.

Worse, children with diarrhoea were 13 times more likely to die over the course of the two-month follow-up period, with most of these deaths happening at home.

“And this was despite WHO-recommended standard management practices for diarrhoea being followed: each child in the community was given rehydration therapy – orally and IV as needed – as well as zinc supplementation, and antibiotics for dysentery. Yet the chance of death was high with underlying malnutrition probably paying a significant role ,” Dr Zaidi revealed.

“GEMS strongly indicates that follow-up care after the initial diarrheal episode is critical to protect the health and wellbeing of children,” added Professor George Griffin, Senior Co-Chair of the GEMS International Strategic Advisory Committee and Professor at St. George’s, University of London. “By focusing only on the acute diarrhoea that brings children to hospitals, we overlook a significant portion of diarrheal diseases’ burden.”

Dr Thomas Brewer, deputy director of the Enteric & Diarrheal Diseases team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded the study, added: “Vaccines and treatments available today can save thousands of children right now, and targeted research to develop new tools to combat severe diarrhoea could save many more lives in the future.”

Hence, Dr Zaidi hopes that the findings of this study, particularly with regards torotavirus vaccination would be taken into consideration by the government of Pakistan and international donors.

“In addition to water and sanitation interventions,  we need vaccines becauserotavirus is a widely occurring infection that is not related to hygiene standards. It took us many years to introduce pneumococcal vaccine in our national immunization programme, and I hope rotavirus vaccine becomes a part of our immunization programme soon as well. Right now a single dose of rotavirusvaccine costs Rs. 4,500 but if it comes under the EPI cover then it will be free for all children,” Dr Zaidi added.

She also commented on the frequent presence of cholera in the Karachi communities. “We usually hear of cholera in gastroenteritis outbreaks, but in fact GEMS has revealed that cholera germs are commonly isolated for children older than 1 year of age even in non-outbreak settings. There is a good cholera vaccine available and we should consider it for cholera prevention in Pakistan”

 “GEMS is a landmark study for the child health community,” said Professor Fred Binka, Co-Chair of the GEMS International Strategic Advisory Committee and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana. “By using consistent methods across countries, GEMS sites generated data that can guide evidence-based decision making at both the local and global level."

Together it is possible

Thousands of people annually die due to various types of cancers in Pakistan including lungs, breast, and different kinds of blood cancers while the disease is responsible for approximately 70 percent of the deaths in low and middle-income countries such as Pakistan. “Together it is possible,” this year’s theme for World Cancer Day, highlights the importance of raising awareness and education about the disease as well as implementing early treatment programmes to reduce cancer rates and improve the chances of survival. Several health institutes both in the public and private sector would be holding awareness activities on Saturday (today) to mark the World Cancer Day and highlight its causes, symptoms, prevention and treatment available in Pakistan. The Children Cancer Hospital (CCH), a private-sector health facility for treatment of cancers in children would be holding an awareness seminar on Childhood Cancer in the morning that would be addressed by children cancer experts from Mayo Clinic USA, leading Pakistani Paediatrician Dr Iqbal Memon and other cancer experts. The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) will hold a day-long seminar on February 4, World Cancer Day, to create awareness about the prevalent types of cancers in Pakistan and the measures required to tackle this growing menace. The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) is also holding various activities including a seminar, tableau, lectures and patient stories while experts would highlight the cancer risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. The National Institute of Blood Diseases and Omair-Sana Foundation (OSF) would jointly hold a seminar on blood cancers among Pakistani children at NIBD auditorium and experts would speak on the causes and prevention of blood cancers. Experts say extensive consumption of tobacco and betel nut is one of the reasons that residents of large cities – such as Karachi – who belong to the lower socio-economic classes where the literacy rates are low, are at the highest risk of acquiring the disease. Prevalent among these populations are head and neck cancers which affect the inside of the nose, sinuses, lips, mouth, salivary glands, throat or the voice box. According to Dr Shabbir Akhtar, Consultant ENT Surgeon, AKUH, early detection and surgery combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy for patients with advanced disease is the preferred treatment for patients with head and neck cancer. The increasing incidence of liver cancer is another cause for concern for health care professionals such as Dr Rizwan Khan, Consultant General Surgeon, AKUH who links the rise of liver cancer directly to the increase in cases of hepatitis B and C as well as alcohol consumption, diabetes and obesity. The treatment options for liver cancer depend on the stage of the disease, how well the liver is working and the overall condition of the patient. The only proven options for treating liver cancer are surgically removing the diseased part of the liver and liver transplantation. “Although the overall prognosis is not very promising, this is a disease that can be prevented by societal and lifestyle changes,” says Dr Khan. Lifestyle changes play a significant role in reducing the chances for ovarian cancer, one of the most common malignancies found in women in Pakistan. “The stage at which ovarian cancer is detected has an effect on its prognosis”, says Dr Aliya Aziz, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, AKUH. A staging system developed by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) rates the chances of survival at 87 per cent if the cancer is detected in stage IA (the earliest of stages) as compared to only 11 per cent for those cancers detected in stage IV. Breast cancer makes up one third of all cancers in women, with one in nine women at risk of developing the disease. Pakistan has the highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia. “If you are over 40, you are at a high risk for the disease and should have an annual mammogram and physical exam by a doctor,” says Dr Yasmin Abdul Rashid, Consultant Medical Oncologist, AKUH. Some of the risk factors associated with breast cancer include advancing age, a close relative with breast cancer, first childbirth at more than 30 years of age and hormone replacement therapy. A report on the occassion World Cancer Day by M.Waqar Bhatti Published in The News on February 04,2011

Polio Free Pakistan

       How to eradicate polio from Pakistan: By Khurram Zia Khan

Polio is a viral disease which may affect the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis. The polio virus enters the body through the mouth, usually from hands contaminated with the stool of an infected person. Polio is more common in infants and young children and occurs under conditions of poor hygiene. Paralysis is more common and more severe when infection occurs in older individuals. Polio is spread when the stool of an infected person is introduced into the mouth of another person through contaminated water or food (fecal-oral transmission). Oral-oral transmission by way of an infected person's saliva may account for some cases. Maintaining high levels of polio immunization in the society is the most helpful precautionary measure.

Globally a lot of work is being done to eradicate polio from all parts of the world and in most countries of the world no new polio case reported and these countries are now declared polio free. India is a recent example where no new polio case reported last year and World Health Organization is considering declaring India polio free country.

This is good news for the region and now its Pakistan’s turn to get serious for the eradication of this menace from the country. Polio is an epidemic and its virus travel fast so a patient suffering from polio is hazardous for the surroundings also. For the long term safety of India from this endemic, it is advisable that government of India also cooperate with Pakistan for polio’s eradication. Now that we have given them MFN status so along with business we should work jointly for a polio free Pakistan in coming years. On Pakistan’s part, we should work with honesty & try to remove all the misgivings about polio drops prevailing in the society and make sure that teams administering the process of polio drops reach all parts of the country. A recent statement by Sindh’s provincial health minister highlighted the fact that polio exists in Pakistan because children are undernourished. This is sad state of affairs and clear failure of our governments past & present and also of other relevant agencies. A country which is the fifth largest milk producer in the world, one of the largest exporter of rice and also self sufficient in many other agriculture products can’t even feed its nation properly.

Polio is eradicated in most of the countries now.  It only exists in 5 countries of the world and sadly Pakistan is one of them.

A number of global organizations are making efforts to eradicate polio from Pakistan. An example of this support is Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Japan will provide 4.9billion yen ($65million) loan to support polio eradication activities in Pakistan through 2013.The loan will repaid by the Gates foundation if the project finances are successfully implemented by the government of Pakistan. This itself a very good initiative one which should be taken seriously and worked upon in a proper manner as successful implementation can be doubly beneficial for the people of Pakistan.

Pakistan is a country of 180million where as India’s population is in excess of 1 billion. We as a nation need to take this as a challenge and cohesively work on war footings for polio eradication.

Following are the steps I recommend to overcome & eradicate polio from Pakistan

1)     1) The 5 countries where polio exists all have low per capita income so we need serious efforts in increasing the per capita income of our people

2)   2)   Proper food to be provided to the children so as to give every child nutritious diet

3)   3)   School food programs to be introduced in the schools operating in rural areas. Not only these programs introduced but they also be monitored strictly to enhance children’s nutritional level

4)   4)   It should be made mandatory for members of legislative bodies to make serious effort s in their respective areas for polio’s eradication and some months if a polio case detected in a constituency then membership of that legislator be temporary suspended for

5)   5)   Task of administering polio drops be given to trained personnel

6)  6)    Free access be provided to teams in all cities & villages around the country

7)  7) Media should be used extensively to create awareness about the need of giving polio drops to children of ages 5 year and less

8)  8)    Special incentives be given to people of those districts where no polio case reported for a considerable duration

9)  9) Experience of those NGOs be utilized who worked successfully to eradicate polio in certain areas of the country.

1010) Services of area elders & spiritual persons be sought to remove misunderstanding about polio drops

1 11) Modern methods for example injections are used in administrating polio vaccination to children.

About Author:

 I am a public relations consultant residing in Karachi. I like to monitor the issues pertaining to health. Education, poverty etc being faced by the society and try to highlight them.

I tweet at @kzk1972 and my blog is kziakhan@blogspot.com

India reports no polio cases for one year

NEW DELHI: The World Health Organization reports that for the first time in history, India has been without a single case of polio for one year. WHO says this momentous achievement boosts its global campaign to wipe polio off the face of the earth.

WHO says an entire year has passed in which no child in India has been paralyzed by polio. The last case recorded was that of a two-year-old girl in the state of West Bengal on January 13, 2011.

WHO calls this achievement particularly significant, as India always has been considered the toughest place on earth to stop the polio virus. This is due to a combination of factors, including a poor health system and a large migrant community, compounded by high population density and poor sanitation.

Sona Bari is external relations officer for WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative. She welcomed this milestone, but noted it is not the end of the road for India. Rather, she said, it is the start of a process.

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