A WHO travel ban could have truly catastrophic results, but it is now a distinct possibility. PHOTO: FILE
As recently as five years ago, Pakistan was very close to being polio-free, but a number of events have produced a cultural climate in which there is powerful resistance to the polio immunisation programme. Polio vaccinators have been threatened and several have been murdered, as have the police deputed to protect them. Parents have been refusing to have their children vaccinated, 47,099 of them according to government figures, and another 2,340,567 have been missed principally because of problems of access caused by conflict or threats to polio teams. A WHO travel ban could have truly catastrophic results, but it is now a distinct possibility. There is a window of opportunity between December and April when the chances of infection are at their lowest. The government needs to place the polio eradication campaign at the top of its agenda and divert the human and material resources necessary to support it. Every available media platform must be used to persuade the people to get their children vaccinated and the vaccinators accorded the very highest security. Once again, defeat is being snatched from the jaws of victory.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2013.
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The editorial brings out the extent of the problem as well as its possible fall-out very well. The figure of 47099 children whose parents resisted polio vaccination is alarming indeed, but the figure of 2.3 million children who could not be accessed by vaccinators is even more startling, as it shows the extent of the population which lives in areas beyond the control of government. Most of the area lies in FATA and Balochistan. Assuming, an average family size of 7 persons, at least 15 million people live in areas beyond the government's control. The possibility of travellers from Pakistan being checked at airports for polio vaccination is also highly embarrassing, as was the security checking of passengers by removal of shoes, socks and belts at all international airports, which was triggered by Pakistani suspects caught with explosive materials. Now we are being seen as a threat for resurgence of polio in other countries. What a shame!
"Polio has tightened its grip on Pakistan, and this deadly embrace now threatens not only our own population but the populations of every other state to which Pakistani people travel."
All the more reason why the Government of India should not institute a liberal visa programme for Pakistan nationals. Let the Polio virus not be added to the list of unwelcome exports from Pakistan to India such as terrorists, counterfeit Indian currency notes and narcotics.
If Pakistan can't eradicate TTP,it won't be able to eradicate polio.They go hand in hand.