A lifetime of pain for Swat's polio-stricken children

From militancy to misconceptions, anti-polio drives in Swat have suffered, leaving many children crippled for life.

SWAT: Akbar Khan, a resident of Swat, cries as he sees his four year-old son Hamza on the bed. Polio struck, Hamza cannot walk without help.

"For four years my son was fine, he could walk, run and play," Khan recalls. "All of a sudden he fell ill and was bed-ridden."

"I took him to the doctor who did some tests and diagnosed him with polio. Some people advised temporary treatment, others advised herbal treatment. I know he is not getting better because there is no cure, only god can help him now."

Khan lamented how his son contracted polio during an 18-month break in the immunisation drive due to the security situation in the valley.

Owing to the security situation and a host of misconceptions, polio eradication drives have suffered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which was this week termed as a reservoir of polio in Pakistan by the World Health Organisation.

Khan says he would sell all his belongings, if the money could buy his son an hour of uninterrupted normal walk.

Misconceptions

Swat polio vaccination team supervisor Khurshid Ahmed says that opponents of the drive and their supporters aside, there are misconceptions that vaccines are un-Islamic. Though Sheikhul-Hadees Mufti Sarfaraz Faizi explains that “in Islam it is permitted to provided treatment before or after diagnosis.”

The religious aspect is not the only factor that is keeping people away from vaccination.

Swat resident Manzoor Ahmed says that he heard that the polio drops contain forbidden ingredients such as fat of pig and (George W) Bush's urine.

Khurshid Ahmed said that in a bid to change the public's attitude towards vaccination, his team resorted to immunising their own children to demonstrate that the polio drops were just harmless medicine.

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This film is part of Black Box Sounds production, an initiative specializing in production aimed at social and development issues, behavior change communication and mass awareness since 2006. For further information, you can visit their website or Facebook page.