Three-day anti-polio drive: campaigners seek help of Ulema

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and other related organisations are launching another three-day anti-polio campaign in Sindh from Sunday (tomorrow). The teams of polio campaigners working in various parts of Karachi are seeking help of local Ulema to create awareness among the people regarding Oral Polio Vaccinations (OPVs), Business Recorder learnt on Saturday.
The teams are particularly seeking help of Ulema in Pakhtun dominated areas because they refuse to administer OPVs to their children, sources said. A meeting in this regard was held in Hijart Colony, a Pakhtun-dominated area of Karachi, a few days back where team leaders Rashid Mehmood, Arsala Saeed and Irfan briefed the local Ulema about the benefits of OPVs and requested to help them create awareness among the people.
They told them that polio vaccination would keep children safe from disability and they would be able to lead healthy life. Sources told Business Recorder that a large number of families, living in suburbs of Karachi, were not aware about the OPVs therefore they refused to administer OPVs to their children. Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and other related organisations have received many complaints, sources said. "It's very hard to convince such families because they were refusing to administer the OPVs to their children", Irfan said.
The polio teams were facing difficulties in many slum areas including Orangi, Saddar, SITE, Gadap, Malir, Kiamari, and Baldia, sources said. Families living particularly in said towns were unaware about the Polio disease. Manzoor Hussein National Programme Manager of RSPN told Business Recorder that their teams visited Hijrat Colony and other areas of Karachi where, they faced harsh behaviour of the people regarding polio. They sought help of local Ulema and clerics of the mosques to help them create awareness among the masses about the benefits of OPVs, he added.
He said that some people said that OPVs were not good for the health of innocent children. It is pertinent to mention here that 123 confirmed cases of polio have been reported in the province during the current year including 9 from Karachi. These cases were reported from Orangi, Saddar, SITE, Baldia and other areas of the city. The cases in other districts were reported from Thatta, Badin, Sanghar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Umerkot, Jamshoro and Tando Allahyar.