A report based on monitoring of District Health Offices (DHOs) across Pakistan over the quarter (December 2012 – February 2013).

ISLAMABAD, 1^st August 2013: Cases of measles increased five times as they went up from 71 in December to 391 in January 2013. One hundred and forty four new measles cases were reported in February as well says a Free and Far Election report released on Thursday.

Rigorous vaccination and awareness campaign in all parts of the country is required to prevent the spread of this contagious disease.

FAFEN governance monitors visited 93 District Health Offices (DHOs) in December, 94 in January and 88 in February. The overall disease cases registered a 7% drop in the quarter.

As for other viral diseases, 19% more hepatitis cases were recorded in January as 1,748 cases were registered compared to 1,467 the month before. The number went down to 1,215 in February.  Though no probable poliomyelitis case was recorded in December, the succeeding months reported six and three cases respectively. As for AIDS, 36 cases were reported in December, 26 in January and 30 in February.

No case of dengue was recorded in the quarter but cases of malaria went up from 1,100 in December to 4,816 in February- an increase of 338% in a quarter.

Moreover, 90% more snake bites were reported in February (611) than in December (321) while cases of dog bites went up 27%.

Scabies went up 3% from December to January and experienced a slight increase of 1% in February. Of the gastrointestinal infections, cases of gastroenteritis increased 39% while diarrhea and dysentery went down 7%. Similarly, meningitis cases also dropped 89% over the quarter.

Bacterial diseases, tuberculosis and tetanus, registered a decrease of 38% and 50% respectively.

Among all disease cases, the most were of Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs). These cases registered an 11% drop in February compared to December.

In the observed quarter, December reported the most cases of maternal mortalities, 128, while January reported 115 and February 102. Cases of infant and child mortalities were also the highest in December than in the succeeding months.