As paediatricians, we devote our lives to advancing the health of children. Over the course of our careers, we have become familiar with many childhood rashes, infections and viruses. We know firsthand how vaccinating a child can completely alter his or her life. These basic shots and drops have the power to protect children from multiple diseases, and are responsible for saving millions of lives.
As Pakistani paediatricians, one disease hits particularly close to home: polio.
This devastating disease strikes our youngest and can disable them before they’ve had a chance to take their first steps. Yet polio is entirely preventable with vaccines – oral drops cost no more than a few cents a dose. In the past 25 years, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped by 99 per cent, largely the result of comprehensive vaccination campaigns and a focus on the prevention of childhood diseases. But Pakistan remains one of only three countries – along with Nigeria and Afghanistan – that have never interrupted the transmission of the disease.
The world’s eyes are now on Syria, where a polio outbreak has paralysed at least 17 young children and appears to have spread. The virus in Syria has been traced to Pakistan – a clear sign that polio within our borders threatens to undo global progress.
The situation in Syria, as well as another outbreak this year in the Horn of Africa, is an urgent warning: as long as polio remains endemic anywhere, children everywhere are at risk. In allowing the virus to circulate, we are not only putting our children at risk, but the world’s.
Pakistan has come a long way towards polio elimination. Our government has made the campaign a priority. In early 2012, we implemented a national emergency action plan, which led to major improvements, including boosts in cross-border immunisation rates and enhanced oversight of vaccination campaigns. The programme is guided by a comprehensive global Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan, designed to bring an end to polio by 2018.
As a result, regions like Balochistan – that had 73 cases in 2011 – are now polio-free, and the disease has largely been cornered. More than 80 per cent of recent polio cases in Pakistan are in the hard-to-reach areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
If we can stop polio there, we can eliminate polio in Pakistan, and global eradication will surely follow. But that is no easy task.
In North Waziristan, local leaders have banned immunisation activities since 2012. In KP, attacks on vaccinators have compromised efforts. Collectively, these activities put Pakistan’s children – and everyone’s children – at unacceptable risk from a disease that is entirely preventable.
If we are to succeed, we cannot let politics stand in the way. A child’s right to health, and to protection against common and deadly diseases, must always come before the politics of adults. Eradicating polio is a critical step in providing all children, even in the most vulnerable and remote communities, the equal opportunity to grow up strong and healthy.
More and more, too, these vaccinators are bringing other life-saving interventions to children in need. For example, a 2012 polio vaccination programme in Tirah Valley reached 11,000 children with the measles vaccine. Polio teams also deliver nutritional supplements, such as vitamin A, and other primary health care services.
The broader global community and friends of children everywhere stand ready to help.
In November 2013, 21 countries approved a resolution calling the eradication of polio an emergency priority in Pakistan.
Islamic leaders and scholars, most recently Pakistani cleric Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, have demonstrated their support for the polio programme by issuing fatwas urging parents to vaccinate their children.
Donors such as Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and the Islamic Development Bank have committed hundreds of millions of dollars in the last two years to support this humane task for our children.
Now we need that same commitment from everyone in Pakistan. The government and those involved in conflict must put children’s health unequivocally above any political agenda, and allow at-risk children to be reached with two simple drops of vaccine. The polio vaccine is free, safe and available. If our vaccinators can just reach the communities in the endemic reservoirs, we will get to zero cases, and build a pathway to improving the health and well-being of children not just in Pakistan, but all over the world.
We must further ensure that all eligible children are immunised with routine vaccines available through the World Health Orgainsation’s Expanded Program on Immunization, available free of charge. This will further bolster our children’s immune systems against preventable diseases, improve health and strengthen our nation.
This is our duty as physicians and caregivers, but also our religious duty. Pakistan’s future lies with our next, vibrant generation. If we cannot care for our children, then who will?
Professor Iqbal Memon is president of the Pakistan Pediatric Association. Dr Jamal Raza is secretary general of the same organisation
