With polio only still a problem in a handful of countries, the goal of eradicating the disease entirely seems almost within reach. But the deeply dysfunctional nature of places where it persists – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and northern Nigeria – leaves many to despair of ever achieving that goal.
This pessimism cannot be allowed to prevail, especially with the incidence of polio creeping up to a 14-year high of 306 cases last year, most of them in Pakistan. This spread threatens to reverse decades of progress by allowing the disease to reestablish itself in countries from which it was once eradicated.
As The National reported yesterday, polio persists not just because of instability in the countries where it is endemic, but also because of misinformation. The Pakistan Taliban claims polio vaccinations are a covert scheme to sterilise Muslims so they have banned immunisation drives in areas they control and have attacked teams of health workers who try to inoculate children.
This is one reason why the UAE’s prominent role in helping eradicate the disease is so valuable. As a Muslim country that has been polio-free since 1993, its enthusiastic support for vaccination provides a credible counternarrative to such misinformation. Our support also includes substantial financial contributions, such as the Dh440 million pledged two years ago by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Within a year, UAE-funded teams had vaccinated eight million Pakistani children.
As we reported yesterday, the campaign has an educational aspect. This was demonstrated by Every Last Child, a film produced by Image Nation Abu Dhabi documenting Pakistan’s fight against polio. The movie is being shown at polio-awareness events in Europe, having garnered lavish praise at documentary film festivals after its release last year. Etihad flights to Pakistan have the Urdu language version as an in-flight video option.
The push to finally eradicate polio remains tantalising. This is not just because future generations of children will avoid having their health blighted by an entirely preventable disease, but also because eradication will free up substantial resources that can be used elsewhere to improve other health issues.