Polio workers job is never easy, but the challenges awaiting vaccinators were bigger than usual when they returned to the field after a three-month hiatus for a three-day campaign in the first week of August.
Sajda Ibrahim, a health worker in Shujaabad, a sub district of Multan, was met with grave distrust on her rounds to administer the Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) drops. Speculation abounded that the drops were being used for population control and to make children sterile. Moreover, according to her, religious fundamentalists were propagating that the drops were haram (forbidden) and would make children susceptible to diseases. Problem areas, where the populace was outright hostile, were noted and conveyed to the district administration to be covered in a follow up campaign.
As many as 66 union councils of Multan were covered in the three-day campaign. These comprise 20 percent of the district’s rural and 60 percent of its urban areas.
Rukhsana Hameed, the supervisor of the vaccination campaign in Multan, told Daily Times that the three-month long interval had made the campaign suspect in the eyes of the residents. Conspiracies theories were being bandied about which made achieving targets harder. People had to be persuaded again of the benefits of anti-polio vaccination which they thought had been halted by the government because of ‘the ill-effects of OPV drops’. Low literacy rates especially in rural areas of Multan, made the populace an easy prey for religious fundamentalists, she maintained.
It was the first time in the preceding decade that the campaign was halted for three months.
Dr. Munawwar Abbas, the chief executive officer of the Multan district health authority, maintained that the hard work of polio workers did not go unnoticed. He said that despite the hurdles and challenges, polio workers managed the drive very effectively and with great enthusiasm and dedication.
He said after the conclusion of the three-day campaign, a follow up survey of four-to-five days was conducted to reach homes missed out in the campaign. “Work was done in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) defined by the Government of Punjab which has made it easier to eliminate polio from Pakistan altogether.”
According to Dr. Abbas, 100 percent targets have been achieved during the campaign, both in rural and urban areas. Problem areas were reported to the district government, who then convinced people during the follow up campaign with the help of police and religious scholars. He said that Multan is among the top ten high risk districts of Punjab, positive samples of polio virus were recovered from urban waste disposal putting the city on high alert.
District Health Communication Officer Asim Bhutta related that the death of three children in Peshawar after getting polio drops in May this year had caused unrest among residents. Even though, later on doctors had clarified that the cause of death was not linked to the polio vaccine, people refused to believe it, succumbing to suspicion and distrust, he said.
Bhutta, who is also the focal person for the anti-polio vaccination, said people failed to realize that the campaign was halted because of elections and the holy month of Ramazan, rather than the Peshawar incident. He maintained that the polio campaign was a continuous process and could be successful only if carried out at the pre-determined schedule without any breaks.
Despite all the challenges, the campaign was met with resounding success both in urban and rural areas. Due to the effort of all stakeholders, 400,000 children were vaccinated, he said.
Published in Daily Times, August 22nd 2018.