Where polio eradication programme went wrong

It was way back in 1994 that the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto launched the first polio eradication campaign; yet after two-and-a-half decades of regular countrywide anti-polio drives, the affliction refuses to go away. The reasons, as explained by Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio, Babar bin Atta, are just as startling as they are worrisome. He told an interviewer that during the past several years the success of the programme was judged on the basis of data supplied by the field staff, who manipulated statistics since the number of vaccinated children reflected on their own performance. This is sad but unsurprising given the prevailing levels of corrupt practices in this society.
It is no secret the polio vaccination drives have been meeting with severe community resistance in the tribal areas due to a false propaganda that it is a Western scheme to stop Muslim population from growing by rendering children infertile. And in other parts of the country many parents refuse to have their children administered polio drops due to concerns about the safety of the vaccine or some other apprehension. Still, according to Atta, over the years the anti-polio programme staff claimed to have vaccinated over 99 percent children. Some claims have been even more scandalous. In January 2019, the data showed that 101 percent children had been vaccinated! Examples from other countries indicate that even 95 percent success rate is good enough to eliminate this debilitating disease. He cited the example of India where continuous vaccination of 95 percent children helped that country to become polio-free.
The other reason, according to the PM's Point Person, why Pakistan has failed to win its war against polio is a flawed policy approach to the problem. So far the emphasis has been on disease control, he averred, while little attention was paid to wipe out the poliovirus. Indeed, numerous press reports have frequently been revealing the existence of the virus in different parts of the country - including big cities like Karachi and Lahore - in sewerage pipes and stagnant water ponds next to human habitations. What needs to be done is obvious though it remains to be seen if the present government is up to the task. Atta claimed that a new strategy has been adopted to grapple with the challenge. Towards that end, he said, it has been decided to start a Polio Tahafuz Helpline, which would not only provide assistance to parents but a call would also be made in Prime Minister Imran Khan's voice to every parent, telling them that polio vaccination is in the best interest of their children. That is all very well. However, considering that he blamed the lacklustre performance of the polio eradication programme on data manipulation as well as unaccosted prevalence of the poliovirus, this government is expected to come up with a holistic strategy to banish both the cause and effect of this menace.