Sept 8, 2024
Staff Report
LAHORE:
In a bid to pressure the government to take action on the return of displaced families, the Kukikhel elders from the tribal areas of Jamrud announced on Sunday, September 8, their decision to boycott the upcoming polio vaccination campaign.
The elders, led by Malak Naseer Ahmad, who spoke on behalf of the tribesmen camping in the Bhagiyaree area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) warned that any parent in Kukikhel-inhabited areas found administering the polio vaccine to their children would face a fine of Rs10,000.
This boycott poses a significant challenge to health authorities. The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio that launched a five-day immunization campaign on Monday, September 9, in the middle of challenges posed by positivity of sewage samples and fake finger marking.
Ayesha Raza Farooq, the focal person for polio eradication, says that demands similar to those raised by the Kukikhel elders often emerge right before a polio eradication campaign begins. “In such instances, we engage our local partners to ensure that those making demands are brought on board,” she explains.
Farooq adds, “We strive to convince them that vaccination campaigns should not be entangled with politics. The health of our children should never be compromised.”
A senior health official told Dawn that not a single case of polio has been reported in KP in 2024. However he explained that a recent case of polio diagnosed in Islamabad, which resembled the strain found in Lakki Marwat district, suggests that the virus is still circulating within the province.
Some of KP districts, particularly the southern districts, remain endemic to the virus, due to several factors including vaccine resistance, inadequate sanitation, and security concerns. Over 120 cases of polio, particularly wild poliovirus, were reported from southern KP in the last five years, nearly half the national total for the same period.
The surge in polio cases in southern KP in 2023 has been a setback for the polio eradication campaign. “We had to redirect our focus from other areas to southern KP. It dampened the morale of frontline workers who were not seeing the desired results. However, we’ve decided to revamp the programme by introducing district improvement plans with secretaries and commissioners actively involved,” says Ayesha Raza Farooq.
The government’s vaccination campaign, which will be run in two phases, aims to target more than 6.42 million children under the age of five across the province. In the first phase, 5.75 million children in 27 districts are expected to receive oral polio vaccine drops, while the second phase, scheduled for September 23, will focus on vaccinating around 672,000 children in three districts. The campaign will also coincide with a national effort to reach over 33 million children across 115 districts.