 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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National
CHENNAI: In the latest push towards the eradication of polio in the face of a new round of incidence in parts of the world including in certain States of India, community leaders have been urged to convince their followers of the safety and importance of polio vaccination. Statistics released by the World Health Organisation show that 14 cases of polio have been noted in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi so far this year, and India ranks second among the four remaining countries in which polio exists: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria. (Some 40 cases have been identified in Sudan as well in the latest round, according to media reports.) The Editor of the Rotary Magazine, T.K. Balakrishnan, blamed a section of a certain minority community in these regions for having spread propaganda that the vaccine was part of a plot to curb their fertility, and consequently many people refusing to take the vaccine. But now, he says clerics have been urged by Rotary International to promote at weekly prayers polio immunisation awareness. President of the Ulema Council of India Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli says there are 70 committees in Uttar Pradesh comprising Islamic scholars, doctors and social health workers whose job it is to ensure that the misconception is removed from society. He says their efforts have been successful. “Two years ago, 90 per cent of the polio cases in India were within the Muslim population,” says Mr. Farangimahli. “Today, that figure has come down to 30 per cent.” Islamic institutions have been issuing appeals in newspapers ahead of each National Immunisation Day (NID). Saudi Arabia now permits only those with a polio vaccination certificate to enter the country for Haj pilgrimage, Mr. Farangimahli pointed out. The drop in numbers and the tight concentration of cases in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is no reason for other States to feel complacent, he said. The concern is that polio can continue to spread though migrant labourers. District Family Welfare medical officer Dr. Vijaya says that for people in Tamil Nadu, polio is only “one train ride away.” She said: “The polio vaccine must be given repeatedly, irrespective of immunisation status.” Last month, about 1.2 million children under the age of 5 were given two drops of the oral polio vaccine, as part of the NID campaign. Although there have been no recent reports of polio in the southern States, surveillance, immunisation and awareness must continue. Even with the government’s extensive immunisation campaigns, Mr. Balakrishnan says there will still be some children of migrant workers who are not given the vaccine. For India to reach “nil virus status,” it must have no cases of polio for three consecutive years. “We simply cannot let it go,” says Rotarian and special invitee to the National Polio Pulse Committee (India) K.C. Vijayan. “We cannot stop now, having come so far.”
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