PAKISTAN POLIO OUTBREAK WORSENED BY MILITANT ISLAMISTS BAN

 

An outbreak of polio in Pakistan is putting in question vaccination programs in the area.

Although the vaccine is available to the inhabitants of the remote area where the outbreak occurs, the mothers of the children who could be affected are afraid of availing themselves of the service for fear of retaliation from Islamic militants. 

Many mothers in North Waziristan are afraid that if they are caught with the vaccine in their possession, they could risk being killed or at least punished by the militants. 

The problem is that these small pockets of infection could cause a larger spread of the epidemic, if the children are not immunized.  And the worse part as far as transmission of the disease is concerned is that the highest risk season is approaching, making the problem even more urgent.  

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is endemic, and cannot be successfully eradicated save through intensive vaccination campaigns. 

In fact, the numerous cases that have been recorded so far have all been in the majority in the semi autonomous areas, leaving great doubt as to the successful contrast to the spread of the disease this year.  

The problem is that the Taliban has banned the vaccinations and the workers who administer them in both north and south Waziristan.  Some of the opposition is due to the drone strikes, some of it probably as a backlash to the involvement of the vaccination workers in the capture of Osama Bin Laden.    

In fact the Taliban has probably killed many workers and doctors in Pakistan.  The Taliban uses the vaccination program as an example of a 'bogey' program, one in which the US or other entities are placing chemicals in the vaccine to cause sterility in Muslim women.  

One of the solutions to get around the Taliban problem would be to travel to Peshawar, but the trek is long and expensive and out of reach for most of the impoverished people of Waziristan. 

Tribal elders in the area have tried to bring pressure on the Taliban to allow the vaccinations, but the Islamists have rebuffed such efforts.  

Source : al Jazeera/ 9.2.13