WHO launches drive for refusal cases

PESHAWAR: Keeping in view the constant number of refusal cases during anti-polio campaigns, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has come up with a unique idea and has launched a ‘conversion drive’ ahead of the campaign to convince refusing parents.

The drive was launched on Tuesday and is initially being carried out in 10 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) including Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Tank where Religious Support Persons (RSP) besides religious scholars will try to convince refusing parents.

Although RSPs were involved to counter the misconceptions against polio drops and convince parents that polio drops were in accordance with the teachings of Islam and did not harm children, the programme is yet to yield 100 per cent results since ‘constant’ refusals still existed.

Officials informed that a similar number of refusal cases were reported after every anti-polio campaign adding that ‘after every campaign, RSPs convince parents and their children are administered polio drops but next month, the same people refuse polio teams.’

“This is a fact that the refusal cases have dropped down from 25,000 to less than 700 [in Peshawar alone] but this is also a fact that these [refusal cases] are the same, reported constantly after every anti-polio drive,” a senior official dealing with the issue told The Express Tribune.

The RSPs also reported that some children who fell ill during a routine vaccination campaign launched to vaccinate kids against other nine diseases [not polio] in the tribal areas had a far reaching impact on anti-polio drives and was still intact.

“Now RSPs will not be doing what they had been doing in the past and will carry out conversion campaigns ahead of anti-polio drives,” the official informed but requested anonymity since he was not entitled to speak to the media. He said conversion campaigns will help prepare ground for anti-polio drives.

Another senior official stated that every single refusal case identified will be targeted during conversion drive adding simple gatherings will be held at different places [where refusals are reported from] and refusing parents will be invited to attend.

He informed that the religious support persons would be convincing refusing parents in accordance with the teachings of Islam since they [RSPs] will produce Fatwa from different schools of thought.

When asked about the demand refusals [people demand power supply in exchange allowing polio teams], the official stated RSPs would be telling parents not to risk lives of their kids since it will be another trouble for refusing parents.

The RSP project was launched in February 2015 and over Rs253 million were spent until February 2017 where not only RSPs but religious scholars were involved to counter propaganda against polio immunisation drives.

Source: The Express Tribune