Anti-polio drive kicks off in high risk Swat valley

SWAT: A three-day anti-polio immunisation campaign kicked off on Monday in the high risk district of Swat. Over 1,069 health teams will reach out to about 3, 80,364 children under the age of five in 65 union councils of the district from Landakey to the Utror areas.

Swat is considered to be a high risk area as more than 20 polio cases have been reported in the militancy-hit district since 2008.

To combat the increasing number of cases, an awareness session was held at the Swat Press Club the other day that attended by a large number of people of the area and the health department officials.

Dr Mahboob Khan, Director, Health of the Malakand Division, talking at the awareness session said that polio incidence is decreasing in the rest of the world; it is on the rise in Pakistan.

“The anti-polio campaign will last for three days but it will be extended to another day for the children who were not vaccinated,” Dr Khan said.

Moreover, the vaccine will be available in all hospitals, basic health units (BHUs), dispensaries and at all entrances and exit points of the district, he said.

Regarding the new identified cases in the picturesque valley he said, “one new polio case has been identified in the Baidara area of Matta Tehsil this year while blood samples of 19 other children have been sent to the national Institute of Health in Islamabad.”

“We will reach out to the Kalam and Utror areas too because people in these areas were not receptive to our campaign but the situation has changed now,” he said.

The campaign was facing stiff resistance when Swat was under control of Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Swat Taliban who declared it un-Islamic.

Mullah Fazlullah also launched a campaign against girls’ education, listening to music, polio drops through his illegal radio stations in the district.

Things changed after the military operation in the district. According to Maulana Mian Noor Badshah, member of the National Research and Development Organisation, 288 religious scholars of Swat have issued edicts declaring polio drops as halal and legal.

Qari Abdul Bais, former MNA said, “We have carried out a detailed research regarding the polio drops and came to the conclusion that this is purely a medical treatment and not against Shariah. Polio vaccination is legal and must be done throughout Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2010.