Steep Decline In Polio Cases But Target Still Elusive

According to Dr. M. Azmoudeh, a medical officer for the Polio Eradication Program at the World Health Organization (WHO) Sindh, the eradication of polio in Pakistan is not occuring largely due to public insensitivity to the disease. Some of the reasons for this include unmotivated community leaders, unhygienic conditions and inadequate coordination among the districts during the vaccination campaign.

According to the article, many people do not vaccinate their children due to rumours that the vaccine will sterilise their children; thus, many people do even not open their doors to vaccination volunteers. Unhygienic conditions, such as exposed raw sewage and unclean toilets, are also to blame for the spread of the disease.

According to the article, the routine vaccination strategy has failed in Pakistan, as the majority of the population does not vaccinate their children against preventable diseases. Dr. Azmoudeh attributes this failure to the fact that the public is not adequately educated about the early vaccination programme. He believes that the media could play an important role in disseminating vaccination information by printing the vaccination schedule during campaign days.

Dr. Azmoudeh also believes that the community can play an important role in eradicating polio. He states that “[i]ndividuals who are privileged and better educated should take the initiative of reaching out to the less privileged classes in society and motivate them towards taking part in the campaign and making it successful. If nobody stands up to do that, the virus will keep returning despite all this effort.”