Islamabad :The Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication (IAG) Thursday launched a new training manual for students of religious studies in support of polio eradication efforts. The manual provides practical guidance on how to engage with local communities to advocate for vaccination as well as other maternal and child health issues. The launch took place during the group’s fourth annual meeting that convened at the headquarters of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Cairo, where an announcement was made for its translation into 20 languages. The launch of the training manual follows IAG’s efforts to prepare students of religious studies at key universities in predominantly Muslim countries to act as advocates for critical health initiatives, particularly in high-risk areas where marginalized and underserved populations reside. As future religious leaders and scholars, the students will be well placed within their local communities to promote healthy behaviour and dispel rumours and misinformation that hamper the work of vaccination teams and deprive their community members of protection against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases. The manual was produced for IAG by Al-Azhar University’s International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research (IICPSR), which has started training students of Shariah and Arabic language studies from the priority countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. In addition to polio eradication, the manual also covers topics related to routine immunization, breastfeeding, birth spacing, care-seeking behaviour for pregnant mothers, and hygiene and sanitation from both health as well as religious perspectives. This can help students address unhealthy practices and taboos that have been inherited by their local communities when they are found. The IAG plans to expand the training programme to national universities in Afghanistan and Pakistan where polio remains endemic, as well as in Africa where some countries remain at risk of seeing the disease resurge. These countries also happen to be among those with the highest maternal and child mortality rates worldwide.
