Polio and the misconceptions about its

vaccination in Pakistan
Article by Asfundyar khan
"The last pockets of this disease (Polio) are the hardest and
the most costly to reach." Rightly said by MARGARET !A"
#irector General of the $orld !ealth %rgani&ation' on a
()** million donation from the +ill and Melinda Gates
,o-ndation and Rotary .nternational to eradicate polio
/orld/ide .!e pointed o-t Pakistan' Afghanistan and
"igeria' /here the rest of the /orld is polio free these three
co-ntries are still s-ffering from this killer 0ir-s. Pakistan is
ranked n-mber one among the three d-e to the high n-mber
of cases' it is mainly d-e to the segments in o-r society /ho
still doesn1t ha0e any information abo-t polio and its
0accination pl-s the 2hakeel Afridi episode adds more to
this. 3-st for the reader4s kno/ledge let me shed some light
on polio' polio has been inc-rable disease b-t pre0entable
thro-gh proper 0accination. .t1s a 0ir-s /hich can only attack
5 years old yo-nger children beca-se of their 0enerable
imm-ne system' this 0ir-s can be fo-nd in e0ery person4s
body. The body part /hich is attacked by this 0ir-s becomes
paraly&ed and irreparable for the rest of the life. A 0accine
for the pre0ention of this killer 0ir-s has been made /ith the
help of $!% to pre0ent children from this 0ir-s. And this is
the only /ay to safeg-ard people from polio. Tho-gh these
drops of polio 0accination sa0es person4s life b-t still many in
Pakistan especially in +al-chistan and some areas of 6P6 are
hesitant to 0accinate their children against this 0ir-s.
According to them it1s a great sin to 0accinate children
against polio7 they term it a great conspiracy against
M-slims by 3e/s. $hich is not only hilario-s b-t matters of
shame that still people of this mentality e8ist in Pakistan.
They /ill go to any e8tent to pro0e themsel0es right and yo-
/rong. According to them it1s a great cable against M-slims
to control their pop-lation' and some /ill e0en tell yo- that a
meat of the pig is mi8ed /ith these drops. They /ill bring
fat/a1s against yo- and /o-ldn1t spend a second to term yo-
as a 3e/ agent /ho /orks for the .A. And -nfort-nately in
Pakistan1s case this thing has act-ally happened. #r 2hakeel
Afridi /ho la-nched a fake polio 0accination campaign for
the .A to collect information against al9:aida chief %sama
bin laden ca-sed a se0ere blo/ to anti polio campaigns in
Pakistan. 2o many polio /orkers ha0e been targeted so far.
"o/ many in r-ral Pakistan are f-lly con0inced d-e to this
tragic e0ent that' polio 0accination is a plot against M-slims'
/hich in reality has nothing to do /ith it. +eca-se the anti
polio campaign r-ns across the globe. %nly in )*;)' )<*'***
children ha0e missed =.".9backed 0accinations against polio
beca-se of sec-rity concerns in Pakistan4s tribal regions. This
co-ld res-lt in possible restrictions on Pakistanis tra0eling
abroad +y .M+ (international monitoring board) and $!%.
.n other /ords it1s an alarming sit-ation for -s >the
Pakistanis?. The go0t' the people the "G%12 and the religio-s
clerics sho-ld play their role in eradicating this mess before
it1s too late. Tribal people are deeply associated /ith religion
so go0t sho-ld approach infl-ential .slamic preachers like
Mo-lana Tari@ 3ameel to play his role in eradicating this
mess in Pakistan. "ot A-st that TB medi-m sho-ld be -sed
effecti0ely to con0ert people1s mind against misconceptions.
The polio 0ir-s is tantali&ingly close to being eradicated in
Pakistan b-t some e8tremist is standing in its /ay. That1s
/hy MARGARET !A" rightly said "The last pockets of this
disease (Polio) are the hardest and the most costly to reach."