Polio in Balochistan

Balochistan was always going to be difficult to rid of polio. It is vast, arid and with a thinly scattered population, many of whom are nomadic. Add the reality that for most of the last two decades the province has experienced a violent insurgency which remains ongoing — then the battle to eradicate polio is placed in perspective. A further impediment to eradication is the pervasive myth that the anti-polio vaccines are a part of some diffuse Western conspiracy theory to sterilise the Muslim world — and pointing out the logic that polio is eradicated in most countries, including Muslim ones, with no attendant drop in fertility, does no good either. Now the Balochistan Emergency Operation Centre (BEOC) has identified 51 union councils in five districts that are found to be at high risk from the levels of polio virus found in environmental samples. The polio virus thrives in insanitary conditions and unsanitary personal hygiene, a fatal conjunction wherever it breaks out in Pakistan.

The BEOC is calling for “concrete steps and greater commitment” to eradicate the disease. A fresh campaign is due to start on May 28 targeting 1.2 million children in eight districts. It is estimated by Unicef that at least 21,000 children are missed in every campaign in the province, and these children provide an unvaccinated pool that represents not only a danger to themselves but magnifies the risk of infection to others. Balochistan is to launch a programme of female community health volunteers to improve anti-polio coverage in high-risk areas. Laudable as this may be, it must be remembered that polio teams, even when given nominal protection by police and paramilitary forces, are the frequent targets of terrorists who have vowed to halt the campaign at all costs. The numbers of women who have laid down their lives for a pittance — when the responsible authority bothers to pay them at all — is now in the hundreds and rising. Recruiting unpaid volunteers may not in that event be the most viable strategy. Recruit, train, pay, protect — that is the way forward. Cheap solutions are never the answer.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th,  2015.

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