Killing polio workers

Polio has resurfaced but the fight to eliminate it still remains difficult.

Polio eradication has come a long way, according to President Asif Ali Zardari. However, on October 16, a worker from a team of polio vaccinators was killed in Quetta, after the team came under attack by motorcyclists armed with guns. The attack came one day after the president launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign on October 15. While expressing his contentment with progress on the issue, the president said he regretted the fact that the disease is still prevalent in Pakistan, while neighbouring India is now polio free. Though Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in polio vaccine manufacturing, the fight to overcome polio in the country is impeded by other obstacles.

In efforts to carry out widespread polio vaccination campaigns, workers remain threatened in areas like Fata and parts of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where militants have warned parents not to allow their children to be vaccinated. Polio has resurfaced in the areas but the fight to eliminate it there still remains difficult. While the president said that we cannot allow extremists from stopping vaccinations, it remains to be seen how this can be achieved. Unless the state provides adequate security to health personnel, we will lose our precious doctors, healthcare workers and volunteers, who the country so desperately needs.

Furthermore, people need to be educated about the seriousness of the condition. In one example, a woman working as a maid reported that her only son, out of five children, got a fever after receiving the polio vaccination. Out of fear that the fever was life-threatening, she discontinued his vaccination failing to understand the seriousness of the consequences. Despite recent monetary donations by the Islamic Development Bank and by the World Bank and Japan, unless there is a proper security plan in place, polio will prevail. Now that the gravity of the situation has been recognised by the president, the next step is to implement security measures, perhaps by involving the military. Additionally, we must also spread awareness and educate the public on what the ramifications are if children are left unvaccinated.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2012.