Share this story!            

More polio cases if resistance continues: NIH, WHO

ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) fear that more polio cases will crop up in the Bajaur and Malakand agencies since workers are denied access to children amid threats by Taliban-backed clerics, Daily Times learnt on Monday.

A senior official at the NIH said that health authorities had confirmed yet another polio case in the Nowshera. He said that the polio victim was originally from the Bajaur Agency. In addition, the Health Ministry has also reported three more confirmed polio cases in urban and rural Sindh.

The clerics, including Tehreek Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) leader Maulana Fazlullah and his supporters in the Malakand Agency, have been ‘warning’ people during sermons in mosques or through illegal FM radio stations not to administer polio drops to their children since it was against religious norms and brought infertility. Maulana Fazlullah is the son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, ex-chief of the TNSM.

To complete the polio immunisation drive, the WHO and the Ministry of Health are contemplating enlisting the help of the district/tehsil and union council nazims, political and religious leaders, public representatives and tribal elders, sources said.

Some religious leaders in the Bajaur and Malakand agencies are telling the people not to get their children vaccinated since the practice is un-Islamic, and that those that die of polio would be considered martyrs.

The situation is not very different in Nowshera, Mardan, Bannu, Charsadda and Swabi. Although eminent religious leaders have issued fatwas (religious decrees) in favour of the anti-polio campaign, it was learnt that some government teachers are telling children and their parents not to have the drops administered because they cause infertility. NIH and WHO officials have confirmed the refusal and resistance by the people in the tribal and settled areas of the NWFP. They believe that the situation could worsen if the government did not take drastic measures to discourage the elements trying to disrupt the campaign.

“Some Taliban-backed clerics in the Bajaur Agency say they are opposing the anti-polio campaign to protest against the government over the US bombing in the tribal region,” an official of the WHO said.

The official, however, said that detailed investigation of the cases and accelerated immunisation activities have commenced in the areas by the district health authorities concerned. Three health officials, including a doctor, had been killed in Bajaur areas while working on the polio immunisation drive. The WHO official said that health workers had been facing serious threats by the locals during the anti-polio campaigns and the authorities were being contacted for provision of security. According to statistics, 40 confirmed polio cases were reported in 2006, which included two from Punjab, 16 from the NWFP, 10 from Balochistan and 12 from Sindh. The NIH has reported four polio cases so far during the first two months of 2007. naveed siddiqui

Home | National

Share this story!