The immunisation programme has to be taken to the grassroots level.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to your editorial of August 11 titled “Deeper polio pit”. Increasing vulnerability of Pakistani children to the polio virus, especially in the militancy-affected areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, requires the serious attention of the federal ministry of health. The immunisation programme has to be taken to the grassroots level and this can be done by involving community leaders, ulema and social workers. The media can play an important role in this by raising awareness about the benefits of vaccination among the general population, especially in the areas where the disease has made a comeback. All the propaganda associated with the campaign, and spread mostly by extremists, needs to be countered by widespread dissemination of information.
Amina Sarwar
Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2011.
