A long and slow battle

Within the welter of data one figure stands out — there was not a single parental refusal in the whole of G-B

The fight to make Pakistan polio-free is bitter, bloody and far from over. As recently as eight years ago victory seemed to be within reach, but no longer. Every polio vaccination drive that gets under way is attacked somewhere in the country, lives are lost both of the vaccinators and those whose job is to provide them with security. Now there is a report that in the second nationwide polio drive of 2015 as many as 367,181 children have missed out for a range of reasons. On the up side there was an eight per cent decline in the number of children who could not be vaccinated, but taken as a whole the picture is bleak and bleaker in some parts than others. Of those children under the age of five years who missed out, 35,818 were direct refusals and 331,363 were simply not at home when the vaccinators came calling. The decline in the number of refusals is being taken as a good omen, but there have been good omens in the past that came to naught.



Within the welter of data one figure stands out — there was not a single parental refusal in the whole of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Given the difficulties of terrain and the remoteness of many mountain communities as well as thin health service coverage generally, this is worthy of note. As is usual Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa topped the list of parental refusals with 27,742, and there is clearly a mountain to climb in turning around the mindset that underlies the high refusal rate.

The province is a significant obstacle to those tasked with eradication, and the global community that is following the battle closely rightly expresses concern via United Nations agencies about Pakistan’s proliferation of the virus. The Ministry of National Health admits that there is a lack of accurate data on the number of children living in 497 high-risk union councils, adding to the difficulty of formulating strategies to reach them and not only for polio vaccination but other childhood diseases as well. But the battle continues and has to be won — for the sake of all our children.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th,  2015.

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