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Attacks on polio teams coupled with the dented credibility of the polio programme and poor awareness-building strategies targeted towards the masses restricted the much- trumpeted World Polio Day events to either power-point presentations or political statements in different venues of the provincial metropolis on Thursday.
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The main event was held the highly-guarded Governor’s House that included a power-point presentation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and a special briefing by Aftab Akbar Durrani, Secretary Social Welfare, Fata.
The official press release issued by the Governor’s House started by sharing the grave concern of the governor regarding the hike in polio cases.In a statement, Governor Shaukatullah Khan has said that increase in polio cases in various parts of Fata was a matter of grave concern and expressed his resolve to cope with the challenge effectively.
The statement failed to highlight any steps that the government has taken to lift the ban on immunisation imposed by the Taliban in North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal regions, where the government had signed peace accords with local militants. Highly placed sources, however, confirmed that the event was arranged on the ‘request’ of the Federal Minister for Health Regulations and Services Saira Afzal Tarar via a letter dated 15th of October. The letter was addressed to the governor and chief minister of KP.
It may also be worth mentioning here that the provincial health minister, the chief secretary, parliamentarians, provincial secretaries and directors of various departments did not attend the main event arranged at the Governor’s House raising a question mark over seriousness of the government about eradication of polio virus.
Sources said that in collaboration with the district health authorities, various debates and poster competitions were planned on the World Polio Day in Mardan, Nowshera and Charsadda districts, where polio workers had been killed and others are still facing serious security challenges in reaching children.
However, the Executive District Officer (EDO), health, in Charsadda, Dr Jamshed Khan, when approached for his versionover the activity shared his utter ignorance over any such competition anywhere in his district. “I don’t know about any such event as we were not informed the World Polio Day. I am not aware of any such competition anywhere in my district,” he revealed.
EDO Mardan, Dr Qasim Khan said currently the biggest problem faced by his department was the Dengue outbreak in the district and that there was no room for any such activity in the district. “Our focus is dengue these days therefore we could not give attention to World Polio Daya,” he said. Similarly, in Nowshera district, officials of the district health department said there was no such event in the district.
Another event was arranged at the Peshawar Garrison Club regarding the launch of a 17-page page book “Speaking Book” on polio eradication.Sources however said that the event attracted very limited number of guests. “The event did not have a lot of guests initially, but the attendance increased to almost 100 members as the event came close towards its end,” a member of the club told The News, raising question on if the attendance increased due to fast approaching lunchtime or the interest in World Polio Day.
The polio programme has faced many blows during the last two years in the province especially due the role of Dr Shakeel Afridi and poor communication strategies aimed towards restoring public trust in the polio eradication campaign.
“Millions of dollars were spent by Unicef and international donor agencies on the advertisement campaign of Cricketer Shahid Afridi but all it did was to create more confusion amongst the minds of parents”. An official of Unicef had told ‘The News’ sometime ago. WHO and UNICEF hired Hundreds of highly paid communication officers under the COMNET project, but it failed miserably to get the desired impact as the number of refusals continues to grow. “The province reported a big number of 36,000 refusals during the recently concluded polio campaign” revealed an official of EPI requesting anonymity.
The silence of WHO and Unicef over the role of Dr Shakeel Afridi and CIA has also contributed towards mistrust amongst the parents who now think twice before allowing polio teams to administer polio drops to their children. Out of total 49 polio cases reported this year in the country, 36 cases had been diagnosed in Fata and six in KP.
Source : International ( The News ) , 25th October 2013
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