IAG urges parents to protect their children from polio

Islamabad

The Islamic Advisory Group (IAG) for Polio Eradication and the National Islamic Advisory Group (NIAG) Pakistan have urged religious leaders and communities to protect and cooperate with polio vaccination teams in their efforts to reach every single child with the magic vaccine that has the potential to prevent lifelong disability.

On the occasion of World Polio Day, the IAG and NIAG have expressed appreciation and full support to polio workers, particularly as they put their lives at risk in order to fulfil their duties towards our children. “Their dedication reminds us of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) saying, “Allah loves the worker who, when he is doing his work, he does it with perfection,” they have pointed out in a press release.

Every year, the world is reminded on October 24 that a disease that has paralysed and killed children for thousands of years still remains among us, threatening futures. “On World Polio Day, we are also reminded that Allah Almighty has bestowed upon us the blessing of a tool that not only can stop this disease from infecting our children but can finally eradicate it from earth once and for all. This comes in fulfilment of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) saying that “There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He has also created its treatment,” the statement mentions.

The path towards polio eradication started a few decades ago with the discovery of the polio vaccine. This vaccine protects children from contracting the disease and infecting others with it. After having victimised hundreds of thousands of children in over a hundred countries across the globe, the virus has now been cornered into a few remaining pockets of three countries. While great progress has been made to bring down the number of polio cases in the past few years, anything less than the protection of every single child cannot be acceptable.

The Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication (a partnership made up of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Islamic Development Bank, along with other religious scholars, technical experts, and academics) renewed its call to all parents to step forward and vaccinate their children against this debilitating but preventable disease, especially those under-five who have not been vaccinated before. “It is parents’ religious obligation to do so; ignoring this might leave these children paralysed for life. As Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has said, “It is sin enough for one to cause the loss of whom he feeds,” the press release adds.