BISP, EPI sign agreement for immunisation of beneficiaries in Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD: Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) on Wednesday signed a landmark agreement for the immunisation of BISP beneficiaries in Gilgit Baltistan region. The partnership is expected to directly benefit 5,000 BISP beneficiaries and 9,000 children in four districts of GB. The beneficiaries will be immunised and incentivised for their participation under a new grant from the World Bank, amounting to $3.5 million. The meeting was jointly chaired by Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar and BISP Chairperson Member of National Assembly Marvi Memon. Saira Afzal Tarar said that EPI programme had achieved several milestones on the supply side with regard to provision of immunisation services but the demand still requires more miles to go for enhancing the routine immunisation coverage. In this context, she said that “interventions like Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) would help to increase the demand of routine immunisation among the people, particularly the poor segment of the population in Pakistan.” She further highlighted that in wake of the recent polio case reported from Diamir district in 2017, based on site readiness assessment and analyses of immunisation data, the GB region was selected for piloting the CCT initiative. MNA Marvi Memon said that “this is the second conditional cash transfer programme being launched by BISP”. She added that the social mobilisation programme of Waseela-e-Taleem initiative was launched in five districts initially to pilot it and it has been extended to 50 districts across Pakistan. She hoped that this programme will be able to extend to other regions on the success of its pilot phase. The evidence from across the globe suggests that schemes like CCT improve uptake of health services like immunisation among poorest of the poor communities. The purpose of the agreement is to increase the uptake of immunisation among the underprivileged expecting mothers and children between 0-23 months in selected districts through a CCT programme. Initially, the scope of the project shall be limited to the region of GB. The activities under this partnership include necessary trainings and drills for skill development to EPI and BISP staff on EPI’s immunisation services, delivery of quality immunisation services, in particular availability of relevant vaccines, trained EPI staff and equipment to ensure effective cold chain. The partnership will also focus on implementation of Environment & Social Management Plan (ESMP), particularly infection control and waste management protocols. It will involve training to the relevant staff for ESMP implementation. According to this partnership, BISP will identify possible beneficiaries that satisfy the eligibility criteria through the National Socio-Economic Registry. It will also mobilise beneficiaries systematically, in coordination with EPI. It will include awareness of BISP Beneficiary Committees to involve the beneficiaries at grassroots level. The activities will include enrolment, compliance monitoring and verification of the process. Moreover, grievance redressal and case management mechanisms will be set-up at the designated centers for services related complaints and appeals. The partnership will also lead to development and maintenance of the Management Information Systems (MIS) including the monitoring and reporting framework for the project. This includes populating the MIS and maintaining beneficiary lists. It will also include electronically recorded required data for immunisation record. On the occasion, BISP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan said that the initiative defines the multidimensional efforts being undertaken for supporting rural and poverty stricken communities. He also hoped that the new CCT programme will assist the government in achieving the global SDGs of health and provide immunisation to the communities who need it the most and reside in the farthest areas of the country. The EPI was launched in 1978. Published in Daily Times, March 22nd 2018.