India Makes Inroads on Polio as Mosques Spread the Word

Written from the perspective of a female Islamic United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) polio field worker, this article describes strategies that health workers in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, have used to overcome cultural mistrust about polio immunisation by turning to local Muslim clerics for support. Aligarh was previously classified a high-risk zone, where health workers met considerable resistance, including stones being hurled at them when they went door to door. In 2003, Aligarh reported 40% of all polio cases detected in UP. With a noticeable Muslim population, the polio campaign faced serious roadblocks stemming from cultural mistrust.

To address this situation, health workers like the woman whose story is told in this article turned to the local Muslim clerics to bolster the polio vaccination message. The point of involving Muslim clerics as supporters of vaccination is to dispell the accusation that the campaign is lying about the purpose of vaccination. "It's against their Islamic dharam [religion] to deceive," she explains. "If it echoed from the walls of the masjid [or mosque], then it would have greater impact." So, before the National Immunisation Day (NID) rounds commence in Aligarh, a parade begins at the base of an 18th-century masjid in the heart of Aligarh's Uppar Kot community. Local members of Rotary International, as well as UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) workers, join a large group of Aligarh's residents - dressed in bright yellow apparel, baseball hats, vests, and visors, voicing the mantra: "End polio now." A cycle rickshaw leads the way, carrying loudspeakers that echo: "Polio ki dawa pilao" ("Give polio drops"). Banners and flyers, written in Hindi and Urdu, display the date of the campaign.

As detailed here, the vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a secular institution with a religious past, considers it the university's responsibility to add weight to the polio campaign, correct any misperceptions, and serve as the "fountainhead of intellectual Islam". AMU has worked with the local ulema, or Muslim clerics, encouraging them to have their children vaccinated and to promote the campaign in their local quarters. In addition, AMU students volunteer for the polio campaign, accompanying health workers in the door-to-door rounds that take place for 5 days after NID.