News
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Govt working to build support for polio eradication* Experts say polio vaccine safe with no impact on fertility
* Over 200,000 children at risk in North and South Waziristan
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Shahnaz Wazir Ali, on Friday, said the government of Pakistan and international aid agencies were working with sub-national and local stakeholders to build public trust and support for polio eradication efforts.
She was chairing a meeting on ‘Identifying the impediments to polio eradication in Pakistan’ at the Jinnah Institute (JI).
She also noted that the misinformation about the safety of the polio vaccine and its side effects had prevented the drive from reaching all children across Pakistan.
Technical experts from local and international organisations stressed that the polio vaccine was safe and had no impact on fertility. Experts leading the fight against polio in Pakistan dismissed concerns that vaccination teams were being used to collect DNA samples contrary to popular perceptions.
They stressed the fact that the polio vaccination teams administered drops orally and there was no element of taking DNA samples in the vaccination process.
Representatives from the Prime Minister’s Polio Cell clarified that the process of procuring the vaccine and administering it were fully transparent.
Funds for acquiring the vaccine were transferred directly by international organisations to UNICEF, which directly bought vaccine stock from WHO-certified and approved vendors.
Dr Elias Durry, who heads the WHO’s polio eradication programme, observed that Pakistan was at a crucial phase in the fight against polio and the country was well positioned to eradicate the virus provided that vaccination efforts continue unhindered.
He praised the efforts of medical staff and volunteers who participated in the vaccination efforts despite grave threats to their safety and lives.
He said that the media had a crucial role to play in continuing the fight against polio. Michael Coleman from UNICEF noted that while a number of positive stories were being circulated in the media, negative stories were getting more attention and play.
Samar Minnallah, a local human rights activist and anthropologist, stressed the need for highlighting positive stories and successes in the mainstream media in order to encourage others to follow suit.
District health officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA expressed concern over the impact of militancy and insurgency in the region.
These factors have reduced accessibility of teams to communities and increasingly it is being observed that communities are denying access to polio vaccination teams in order to seek material benefits such as electricity supply, infrastructure and even an end to drone strikes.
However, officials working on the ground in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA said that contrary to popular perception, the recent Shakil Afridi incident had little impact on the campaign in these areas as no uptick in refusals had been reported since then. Arshad Sharif, a local news reporter, stated that there was a lack of information about the polio campaign amongst media persons but this could be rectified if public health organisations were more responsive to media queries and made vaccination campaign progress and success stories publicly accessible through their websites.
Media persons noted that over 200,000 children in North and South Waziristan were at risk of contracting polio due to the ban announced by the militants operating in the region but no information had been made public about what was being done to rectify this situation.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk