Worker woes: Three month-long delay mars polio drive

Campaign was postponed due to Ramazan and the general elections

SADIQABAD: In the aftermath of the recent polio campaign which wrapped up on August 10, workers spoke about the challenges and difficulties they faced during the inoculation drive.

According to a predetermined schedule, the anti-polio campaign is supposed to be carried out every month. However, due to the general elections and the political chaos that ensued, the campaign was conducted after a three-month break in Rahim Yar Khan District.

“The long interval between the two anti-polio campaigns has created many hurdles in achieving targets,” says Lady Health Supervisor District President Farhat Jabeen while speaking to The Express Tribune. “Because of the gap in our efforts, we faced greater resistance from people.”

After a three-month long break, we have to put in a lot more effort to convince people to inoculate their children, she laments. They theorised that the campaign was halted due to the conspiracies that continue to revolve around the polio drops, she reveals.

For the first time in 10 years, the anti-polio campaign had to be postponed for three months, reveals CEO Health Rahim Yar Khan District Dr Makhdoom Basharat Hussain Hashmi.

Saeeda Bibi, a lady health worker in Khanpur, said that people are unaware of the importance of vaccinating children due to the high rate of illiteracy. This, coupled with the delay, has doubled the problems that we face, she maintains.

“Housewives are particularly reluctant to have their children vaccinated. They still believe the myth that polio drops are way of controlling the population and make their children sterile,” states Misbaah Bibi, a polio health worker in Sadiqabad.

Moreover, religious clerics think that the vaccine is against our religion and makes our children prone to diseases, she adds.

We only face these challenges in rural areas in the district, says Zahid Iqbal, a polio worker. “In urban areas we managed to vaccinate 0.5 million children.”

Furqan Tattla, a focal person of the vaccination programme, claims that people started panicking after three children in Peshawar died after being administered the polio drops. “However, doctors later clarified that the cause of death was not linked to the polio vaccination,” he says.

Citizens believed that this was the reason for postponing the drive. However in reality, the holy month of Ramazan and the general elections were the main reasons behind the three-month long delay, he clarifies.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2018.