As the nation observed this year's World Polio Day on Friday it was obvious that a lot more efforts are needed to win the battle against this crippling disease. The report card made a dismal reading: Pakistan accounts for 80 percent of the global polio cases; according to the World Health Organisation, the number of those affected this year by the disease has risen to 220; and some 350,000 children have missed out on vaccinations. That though is not for lack of trying. As a matter of fact, anti-polio drives made rapid progress until about a decade ago. A press report quoting UNICEF data points out that a series of vaccination drives brought the number of cases from 18,000 in 1993, to just 28 in 2005. But things changed after the war in Afghanistan and its spillover into this country's tribal areas. Somehow the extremists in the tribal areas decided that polio vaccination drives were a Western conspiracy to rob Pakistani children of their reproductive ability to reduce the world's Muslim population, and started violently resisting anti-polio drives.
Since December 2012 some 30 health workers and as many security personnel accompanying polio teams have been killed by extremists not only in the tribal areas but also in cities like Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi. Either out of fear or influenced by the militants' propaganda, many families have been refusing polio drops. In the week preceding the World Polio Day, ten percent of the children visited by anti-polio teams did not receive the vaccine. However, there are signs of change for the better. Most importantly, the ongoing military operation has managed to clear at least 80 percent of the tribal areas of the militants. Diminishing of the fear of Taliban is creating an enabling environment for the anti-polio drive. Notably, tribal elders in South Waziristan marked this year's Polio Day by holding a jirga and a walk, and also taking polio drops themselves to encourage others to have their children do likewise. The government has also sought the help of respected religious scholars to debunk, in the light of Islamic teachings, the extremist propaganda and persuade people to protect their children from the crippling disease. Their exhortations are expected to work though they may take a while to sink in.
For his part, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, aside from the ritual administration of drops to selected children at his official residence, announced formation of a Prime Minister Focus Group for polio emergency. The group is to meet every month to monitor and review the eradication programme's success. Presumably, the initiative is focused only on ensuring effectiveness of the immunization programme. Health experts have also been pointing out that unsanitary conditions contribute to the spread of the highly contagious polio virus. Hopefully, the focus group is to pay attention to this aspect of the issue as well and urge provincial governments to improve conditions in the big cities' poor and congested localities.