Pakistan: Collective efforts for polio eradication

Opinion leaders such as actors, famous celebrities, philanthropists and sports personalities can do this much better than the government and be more effective by reaching the people at the grassroots level instead of just merely sponsoring advertisements

Recent media reports indicate that the International Health Committee (IHC) has banned Pakistani nationals from travelling abroad without possessing a polio certificate and has held Pakistan responsible for spreading this disease across the globe. This certificate would mean that the traveller has received polio drops and is therefore safe to travel. On the other hand, the government has planned to undertake all out efforts to counter the rising threat of this disease, which has tarnished the image of the whole nation. Reports indicate that the government is also planning to use injections to get the desired results. Polio is widespread in the whole country even in the large metropolitan cities of Karachi and Lahore as well as the rural tribal areas. Although another campaign has been planned to administer polio drops yet again, it has been suspended in many areas due to lack of security measures, threat of terrorist attacks and possible non-cooperation by parents.

Recent reports from Karachi indicate that in some suburban areas of Landhi and other backward places, polio teams have not been allowed to enter and parents have disallowed these teams from administering polio drops to their children. The reasons could be many as they might be under threat from the terrorists to not cooperate with these teams or they might be under the influence of some extremist elements and religious clerics about how these drops contain some substance that can lead to infertility in children, linking the vaccination programme as a worldwide plot for the population control of Muslims. One can only be surprised about this myth as there seems to be no logic behind it if some rational thinking is put forward to analyse this claim. This campaign has been going on for so many decades; has anyone seen any decline in births in any underdeveloped country like Pakistan? Has there been any such report in any Muslim country where this campaign has been run for so many years without any halt? The answer is of course in the negative. However, the government is using the mass media to put forward the thoughts of many eminent religious scholars from many other Muslim countries but this illusion is deep rooted and such cursory measures are unlikely to remove this myth despite being useful to a certain extent.

Such a widespread outbreak of this disease cannot be singlehandedly blamed on any federal or provincial government; rather, we are responsible for such a pathetic situation where we have become a token of disgrace all around the globe. This dire situation warrants immediate planning of all out efforts to eliminate this menace from our society. A comprehensive strategy needs to be chalked out to include non-government organisations (NGOs), religious scholars, political leaders, civil society activists, educationists and school teachers, human rights activists, security personnel, media houses, journalists and anchorpersons and local administration along with provincial and federal government officials. There should be awareness campaigns to convince parents and those who have apprehensions about this campaign. The help of doctors and medical professionals can also be taken to assure people about the non-use of any alleged ingredients so that the confidence of the people can be restored. Of course, opinion leaders such as actors, famous celebrities, philanthropists and sports personalities can do this much better than the government and be more effective by reaching the people at the grassroots level instead of just merely sponsoring advertisements. Many working groups can be formulated in this regard to reach out to the people living in far-flung areas. Such all out efforts are the need of the hour as any delay on this count will not hurt the government; it will hurt the whole state, which is already facing many uphill challenges. All political parties are engaged in holding rallies and processions, and media houses are running talk shows to discuss the recent political landscape but we hardly see any efforts by groups that are the stakeholders in this whole scenario.

If all of us join together to eliminate this menace from our country then there is no reason why we cannot be successful. However, there seems to be no apparent holistic approach till now in this regard. After these all out efforts, if there are still adamant groups, use of force is justified to safeguard the national and humanitarian cause as ignorance cannot be allowed to keep the whole nation hostage any longer. Any delay in formulation of concerted efforts to incorporate all the stakeholders will be tantamount to criminal negligence. Every one of us must volunteer for this national cause that has actually rung alarm bells to give us a wakeup call. Right now nothing is more important than overcoming this socio-economic crisis as we cannot afford to falter on this front any more.