The fight against polio: How much do attacks hurt campaigns?

Children in Mandan area of ​​Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this week Polio One of the two injured in the attack on the security personnel of the team that sprayed drops against

Attacks on polio vaccination teams in Pakistan are not new, but it is important to know how far these attacks set back Pakistan’s fight against polio.

On Thursday, the day after the attack in Bannu, the police said that ‘an intelligence-based operation was conducted against these militants, as a result of which one militant was killed while the other escaped with injuries.’

A day before the same attack, according to the police, a polio team was also targeted in Surani Toorka area of ​​Bannu, as a result of which a policeman was injured.

Till July 31 this year, polio virus has been confirmed in 14 children in Pakistan (Fazl Rehman).

According to a research paper published in March 2023 in the journal Asia Pacific Health, a total of 200 polio team members have been killed in Pakistan. Polio workers(male and female), security personnel of the polio team and other staff are included.

Due to all this security situation on behalf of the district administration Bannu Anti-polio campaign Section 144 has been imposed for three days to continue. Accordingly, display of any kind of weapons, double riding of motorcycle has been banned.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which consists of six major organizations around the world to eradicate polio, has released a report on the global polio situation last month.

According to the same report, which was compiled with the help of the World Health Organization, the security situation for polio in Pakistan has become a major challenge, which could increase the risk of poliovirus spread.

According to the report, five cases of polio virus have been reported in Pakistan till November 14 this year, while the virus has been confirmed in 27 samples during testing.

Among these samples, seven have come positive in Balochistan, eight in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine in Sindh and three in Punjab.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), polio virus is present in seven districts out of 164 districts of Pakistan.

Worldwide, the polio virus is found only in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, which the World Health Organizations are active in eradicating.

During the virtual briefing on the overall situation of GPEI, the global alliance active for the eradication of polio, when asked by Independent Urdu whether the attacks on the polio team in Pakistan can affect the polio campaigns?

In response, Sheba Afghan, a representative of the organization on the panel, said: ‘This is a challenge for polio campaigns and we are looking at it.’

He said that for the next one month, we are working on a strategy with Pakistani institutions to solve this problem, which will ensure the security of polio workers.

“Apart from the security situation, public boycott of polio campaigns at the local level is also a problem and is being resolved with the help of the chief secretaries of the respective provinces,” Sheba said.

This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).

In some districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there have been issues in the past where the local Jirga or local people made polio vaccination of children subject to local issues being resolved.

A similar ban has also come up in North Waziristan yesterday, in which according to media reports, the local Jirga has banned polio campaigns across the district and has made the campaign conditional on resolving regional issues.

Various propaganda against polio vaccine has also been done in Pakistan from time to time. A major problem in this regard occurred in 2019 when the condition of up to 5,000 children has disappeared after drinking polio vaccine drops.

After this incident, a local health center in Peshawar was also burnt, but later according to the health department, it was an organized propaganda against the polio vaccine and those responsible were also arrested.

What do the organizers of the polio program say?

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Emergency and Operation Center Deputy Chief Zeeshan Khan told Independent Urdu: ‘Attacks on security personnel during polio campaigns are deplorable and we salute these brave soldiers. ‘

He said that such attacks cause technical difficulties as it delays the ongoing polio vaccine campaigns.

Zeeshan Khan said, “We are in touch with the district administration in this regard and are trying to ensure the security of the polio teams.”