LANDI KOTAL: The new strategy of Continuous Community Protected Vaccination (CCPV) in curbing polio disease is bearing fruitful results in high risk areas of Khyber Agency as the number of chronic refusals and missed children has decreased considerably since September this year, according to officials.

“The CCPV strategy was adopted in parts of tribal areas after it proved successful in Nigeria and Karachi in the recent past,” Agency Surgeon Dr Niaz Afridi told this scribe at his office in Jamrud.

Khyber Agency topped the entire Fata region with 76 polio cases in 2014 while only seven had so far been diagnosed that year, he added.

Explaining the salient features of CCPV, Dr Niaz said that young and motivated local people were employed on permanent basis to reach out to every house in their locality and convince the reluctant parents to vaccinate their children alongside tracking and locating the ‘missed children’.  

“It is a continuous vaccination-cum persuasion process by the newly recruited health staff, which is helping the collective cause of purging tribal areas of the crippling disease of polio,” he said.

Official says number of refusal cases and missed children has decreased considerably

Dr Niaz said that during the previous three to five designated days of fixed vaccination campaigns, the health teams would miss 3,000 to 4,000 children in Khyber Agency owing to their absence from homes for multiple reasons.

“This was a recurring problem and caused the spiraling of poliovirus in the region,” he said, adding that the issue of missed children was almost resolved with the help of new strategy in a short span of time.

This scribe visited a number of previously declared high risk localities of Jamrud and witnessed smooth execution of the CCPV strategy.

“People have faith in us and they believe our counter-refusal arguments,” Mohammad Nabi, a health worker, told this scribe in Rahmat Gul Kallay of New Abadi 3 in Ghundi area of Jamrud. Only few months ago, the locality was considered a ‘no-go area’ and was declared a high risk zone for polio vaccination campaign.

He said that the new strategy made a huge difference as almost all chronic opponents of polio vaccination were convinced to vaccinate their children while all the missed children from previous campaigns were also located and vaccinated successfully.

“We have no problem in carrying out door-to-door campaign as almost every resident in the locality recognises us and we also have no problem in entering their homes for administering anti-polio drops to their infants,” he said.

Mr Nabi was lucky enough to have a narrow escape in the September 1 suicide blast outside the offices of political administration in Jamrud. He said that he was administering anti-polio drops to a minor boy when the incident occurred which injured both of them.

“The suicide bomber blew himself up exactly at the same place where I was sitting and waiting for children to come for vaccination but I had moved few yards away to a nearby place to get the minor boy vaccinated,” he said about the blast in which four persons including three khasadars were killed and 56 others were injured.

The suicide blast did not deter the determination of Mr Nabi and he was seen fearlessly performing his responsibilities in his native locality.

Same was the case with area supervisor Jamal Khan in Zameer Colony, another high risk locality where he along with his team was seen holding a dialogue with local people about the efficacy of the polio vaccine.

“This method of vaccination is totally different from the previous one as have not faced noticeable resistance from the community,” he told this scribe while in the middle of his conversation with the local residents.

Dr Niaz was optimistic that with the new strategy the desired target of vaccinating all the 193,000 children in Khyber Agency would be achieved. He also expressed his satisfaction over the law and order situation and the security arrangements made by the law enforcement agencies in the area.

He said that alongside oral polio vaccine (OPV), injectable polio vaccine (IPV) would be introduced in the coming vaccination campaign to be started in November. “IPV was a success in our campaign against measles and would be applied for curbing polio as well,” he added.

Published in Dawn, October 13th , 2015

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