Polio: Four years too late, campaign finally reaches Bara

Tribesmen welcome initiative, also demand protection against measles.

PESHAWAR:

Out of reach since 2009, the children of Bara are slowly receiving polio inoculations. The campaign started earlier this month and is supported by the political administration with the help of the army.

Bara tehsil is one of the worst-hit areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Of the 15 cases reported in Fata in 2013, at least nine cases were from Bara, Khyber Agency. The fact that there has been a four-year-gap between the vaccination drives cannot be ignored. Militancy, operations, mass displacement and curfews have made the area hard to access by health workers, who are not provided adequate salaries or security cover.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, an official of the Fata Department of Health confirmed the anti-polio campaign. “It is the first effort of the political administration and Pakistan Army since September 2009 to eradicate the crippling virus in Bara,” he said.

On the first day of the campaign, more than 18,000 children were vaccinated in areas of Bara tehsil which were completely inaccessible earlier.

If executed properly, the campaign will ensure no child below the age of ten will remain unprotected against polio. The decision to venture into Bara was taken after similar drives in other parts of the agency were successful.

The official said locals were very supportive of the vaccination teams and there were no cases of parents refusing to inoculate their children.

After the four-year gap

An estimated 0.7 million children from different parts of the tribal belt would be immunized during the campaign, said the official. The help of ulemas has been sought to convince any reluctant parents to immunize their children.

According to Agency Surgeon Dr Sameen Shinwari, as many as 140,000 children under the age of ten in Khyber Agency would be vaccinating during the campaign.

In more forward movement, Bara Road – the main route linking Khyber Agency to Peshawar – was reopened on August 3 after remaining off-limits for nearly four years.

The route was closed for traffic since September 2009 when military operations against Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam were launched, further isolating the area.



While tribesmen welcomed the initiative, their concerns over militancy still remained; militancy which has not been completely rooted out despite several military operations.

“This is the second piece of good news for the people of Bara: the first one was the reopening of Bara Road after four years and the second is vaccinating our children. But the real problem remains law and order in Khyber Agency,” said local elder Muhammad Adil Afridi.

The people of the area are very happy though, he added, and they have willingly vaccinated their children.

Sabir Afridi, a resident of Alam Godar, wanted the health department to help eradicate another disease from the agency: measles. A large number of children also suffer from this disease, and, Sabir maintained, this would be a great initiative for the people of Bara.

Including the nine polio cases reported from Khyber, the total number in Fata has reached 15. Five patients from K-P have also tested positive for the virus.

In 2012, Khyber Agency reported a total of 11 polio cases, of which 8 were from Bara.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2013.