ASIA/PAKISTAN - For the first time, refugee children vaccinated against measles in Waziristan zone

Dera Ismail Khan (Agenzia Fides) – Thousands of refugee children in southern Waziristan have been vaccinated for the first time against measles. There are nearly 180,000 children among the IDP (internally displaced people) in the North West Frontier Province, who will be vaccinated against measles. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are further vaccination campaigns underway. Oftentimes, due to internal wars and the opposition of militants to the vaccinators, these people have no access to healthcare services. Nearly 139,000 people have fled the fighting in the southern area of Waziristan and have gone to the neighboring disctricts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, in the North West Frontier Province. In the past 10 days, in these two districts, nearly 57,600 have been registered. The refugees of southern Waziristan live in community, with friends and family, or in rented flats. According to the most recent government statistics, in South Waziristan, only 3 percent of the women can read and write and there is 1 doctor for every 7,670 people. Less than 60% of the children receive their vaccines. The Vice-Director of UNICEF in Pakistan has declared that it is one of the most remote and impoverished areas of Pakistan, and that the people need to be protected from the effects of malnutrition, precarious health conditions, and disease. In addition, violence is also on the rise. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 27/10/2009)