The World Health Organization
WHO has declared in its new report that Pakistan is the only country to let
polio virus move outside its borders.The health committee of WHO mentioned in
its report that polio virus had moved from Pakistan to Afghanistan thrice since
July 2014. The committee directed Pakistan to control polio virus within six
months. In addition, the government should not give permission to any Pakistani
to go abroad without the certificate. In 2014, more than 243 cases have been
registered in Pakistan, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Fata, according to
the country's health officials.
This is the highest figure in 15 years exceeding the previous record of 199
infections in 2001.
Polio is a crippling and hypothetically fatal viral disease that mainly affects
children under the age of five. The highly contagious virus spreads best in
unsanitary conditions, making vaccination essential. There are also concerns
that the virus could spread to other countries from Pakistan. However,
eradication attempts in the country have been hindered by militants groups who
have banned immunizations. Lack of security is not the only reason for
Pakistan's inability to stop the spread of polio as there are also areas without
security-related issues which have not achieved a high level of vaccination.
This aspect points to a management and accountability weakness in these areas.
So we cannot say that the failure is only because of the militants, although
they and the climate of fear have definitely played a role.
In Pakistan's North Waziristan region local leaders imposed a ban on polio
vaccination in June 2012. People in that area had no access to vaccination and
that was a problem. But the beginning of military action in the area this June
and the subsequent displacement of nearly the entire population finally provided
an opportunity to vaccinate those who had been living in the region for two
years without vaccination. In such situations, however, there is also the risk
of the virus spreading to new areas as it travels out with the people who
haven't been vaccinated for a while. That is actually what we are currently
witnessing.
But there are other challenges. In other parts of Pakistan such as Karachi and
in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the problem is that the vaccination
activities are not of good quality. Sometimes, this is just because local
officials who are in charge of having children in their district vaccinated
haven't done their work in a manner that ensures the vaccination is delivered
properly. There are a number of reasons for this as they may not have the tools,
resources, training or even the political support necessary to do their job.
Officials may not have had access to certain areas to vaccinate children, such
as some parts of Karachi which are extremely dangerous, or maybe they don't have
a vaccinator with the right training.
But it has to be noted that there are also many successful vaccination drives in
the country. In Peshawar, for instance, local political leaders managed to hold
a series of vaccination campaigns every Sunday over a period of 12 weeks without
a single security incident and the coverage rate was very high. Another display
of innovation took place when authorities set up hundreds of so-called transit
vaccination posts when people from North Waziristan were displaced. Nearly a
million people were vaccinated. These campaigns prove that eradication of virus
can be done. Another recent development that has been quite encouraging in
Pakistan is that religious leaders have taken a very strong stand in support of
vaccination in the country, and there is now something called the National
Islamic Advisory Group, which is ramping up efforts to make people realize that
it is in fact a religious duty and obligation to protect children.