Polio vaccination: Not a single case of rejection in Swat
Not a single case of parents stopping polio vaccination team from administering anti-polio drops has been reported in Swat this year. This is in stark contrast to 13,000 refusals just three years back, according to President Itihadul Madaris Sadiq Ahmad.
Moreover, a three-day polio inoculation campaign will start from October 24 in which an estimated 382,000 children in the valley under five years of age will be inoculated. This was announced on Tuesday at a joint press conference of Ithihadul Madaris and National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) in the Swat Press Club.
“A total of 1,028 teams including District Health Team and Campaign Support Persons will conduct the campaign,” said Afreen Khan, NRDF coordinator.
During the militancy, the Taliban, led by Mullah Fazallulah, had openly denounced polio vaccination, terming it as anti-Sharia. But after peace was restored to the valley, campaigns are being carried out successfully, according to official sources.
Ittihadul Madaris Member Maulana Mian Noor Badshah said at the press conference that all religious scholars in Swat are agreed on the need for polio vaccination.
“Negative propaganda was broadcast on the radio against polio but now we are happy that the Ulema (scholars) have dispelled the misperception,” Badshah said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2011.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
My best wishes also for the campaign starting on World Polio Day October 24th. Rotary International and it's partners have been working to achieve the eradication of this horrible disease since 1979. Show your support for everyone involved by including the hashtag #rotaryendpolio in all of your social media posts on 24th October.
Good luck on the 24th, which happens also to be World Polio Day. Another 382,000 children hopefully safe from polio. Rotary International's input over the last 25 years has been huge, all over the world, and they will continue to support polio eradication until it's gone #rotaryendpolio
This is great to hear. Will give credit to the Ulema for being progressive here.
Mullah Radio should have been caught and arrested at the beginning when he spewed in his anti-polio nonsense and CIA conspiracy. It was a sign of things to come. But he was left alone by the state until finally taking over and causing a war, but then driven out.
Was worried that efforts would have been hampered further because of the news of the OBL Pakistani CIA doctor using the polio vaccination program as an excuse to extract the children's DNA....making it Mullah Radio's self-fulfilling prophesy. Glad that is not the case.
The final 1% of the job of eradicating polio from the world will be the most difficult #rotaryendpolio. From having 125 polio-endemic countries to just 4 has been an amazing result, and Rotary International has been a key player in this task, having volunteered their time and personal resources to reach more than two billion children in 122 countries with the oral polio vaccine. www.rotary.org/EndPolio . It's important that the world gets behind World Polio Day on Monday 24th October, and commits to eradicating this vicious disease.
Good luck everyone on the 24th and hopefully we can save more lives and say goodbye to this disease.