As we come to the end of the year, there is a question to answer: will we be able to win our war and escape the ignominy of being the only other country alongside Afghanistan to be still listed as being endemic for polio. Although we see a distinct improvement from the previous year when a record 306 cases were reported across the country – with 42 cases recorded so far in 2015 – there is clearly still a long way to go. Much of the battle lies in the minds of people. Shockingly, it has been learnt that even in a giant metropolis like Karachi, a growing number of people are refusing to have their children vaccinated and protected against the potentially crippling disease. The propaganda put out mainly by extremists that polio vaccination drops are somehow harmful, or part of a western campaign to hurt Muslims, seems to be working even in major cities. At a recent high-level meeting in Karachi, it was learnt that during the recent three-day National Polio Campaign conducted across the country, 16,319 children in Karachi were missed out. The vaccination teams were unable to reach their target of vaccinating 220,352 children. At the meeting top city officials were told that in some cases parents bluntly refused to allow their children to be fed the amber drops that could save them from a terrible illness. In other cases, children were hidden away and in some polio teams were unable to reach them for different reasons. The situation is not encouraging. While the anti-polio campaign seemed to be more meticulously planned than before, involving 80,000 teams spread out across the country, such efforts can never succeed if people believe that polio drops or other vaccinations are to be avoided. The fact that this is happening indicates that we are losing the battle. The victims are the children who end up in crutches or lose the use of other limbs as a result of beliefs deliberately spread in a wicked campaign by groups opposed to the campaign. The controversy that broke out in 2011 over Dr Shakil Afridi’s involvement in the anti-polio effort only complicates matters. The head of Unicef’s polio programme for Pakistan had stated a few weeks ago that they had reason to believe Pakistan could be off the list of endemic countries by 2017 if the rate of success seen this year continued into the following year. Yes, the lower number of cases is a success. But the mindset of people is disturbing and indicates we could still be facing many challenges ahead as the effort to push back polio continues.
