Some Pakistani clerics oppose polio
vaccination
SLAMABAD, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Some Muslim clerics in remote parts of
Pakistan are whipping up opposition to a campaign against polio,
threatening efforts to eradicate the crippling childhood disease in
one of its last reservoirs in the world.
Health
authorities are playing down the impact of the opposition and say 32
million children under five have been vaccinated in an immunisation
campaign in recent weeks.
Nevertheless, the clerics' message that polio vaccination is a
foreign-funded ploy to sterilise people is likely to thwart efforts
to achieve blanket vaccination of all children, jeopardising
eradication efforts.
Adding
to the difficulties, the vaccination campaign in one area on the
Afghan border has been postponed after a doctor involved in the
drive was killed by a roadside bomb last week, a Health Ministry
official said.
A
cleric in North West Frontier Province has been preaching that
vaccination is against Islamic law, the Dawn newspaper reported on
Thursday.
"I
must tell my brothers and sisters that finding a cure for an
epidemic before its outbreak is not allowed in sharia," the cleric,
Maulana Fazlullah, was quoted as saying in a sermon.
"Those
who ... get killed during an outbreak are martyrs."
He
also voiced suspicion of the immunisation campaigns mounted by the
government with the help of the United Nations and other foreign
agencies.
"I
don't understand why foreigners would think of our well-being when
we see they are killing Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
The cleric has also been using his private FM radio station to
spread his message, officials said.
MISINFORMATION
The
highly infectious disease has been eliminated in developed nations
but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan had 39 cases last year, most in conservative regions on the
Afghan border. Four cases have been reported this year, a Health
Ministry official said.
"There
are people who, owing to misinformation, want to oppose it but all
this is very localised, to do with certain beliefs," said the
official, who declined to be identified.
Initially, the parents of about 24,000 children in North West
Frontier Province refused to have their children vaccinated in the
latest drive, partly because of rumours that it was a conspiracy to
sterilise them, another health official said.
But
that figure had come down as health workers and other clerics
persuaded parents of the benefits of immunisation.
"It's
important to engage those who are opposed. At the local level,
people are trying their best to talk to them and make sure they come
round," the first health official said.
"We're
taking about somewhere around one to two percent of children who
have been missed, due to various reasons. They may include a small
fraction of refusals," he said.
Link:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL29895.htm
95pc
children vaccinated against polio in NWFP, Fata, Pakistan
PESHAWAR: More than 95 per cent children under five years have been
administered polio drops during the Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs)
campaign in the NWFP and Fata, officials told APP on Thursday.
Speaking to parents, Director-General Health Services NWFP Dr
Jalilur Rehman said: "It is extremely important to vaccinate
newborns because one child with polio virus can put other children's
health at risk." The SNIDs is targeting three million children
across the province. It intends to reach only 20 per cent children
of the country, as 80 per cent remain polio-free due to intense
eradication programmes undertaken by the government and development
partners.
link:
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=44100
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