PESHAWAR: Experts have said that polio eradication still faces challenges including refusal by parents but continuous efforts have led to drastically cutting down hesitancy against polio vaccination in the province.

“There are obstacles including boycotts of immunisation on flimsy grounds and misconception that polio drops cause infertility and impotence but still we have brought down refusals from 20,000 to 6,000 in Peshawar district,” Unicef communication officer Shadab Younas told a media workshop.

The workshop was organised by Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in collaboration with Peshawar Press Club for health reporters, covering polio immunisation.

Ms Younas said that media had huge responsibility to brush aside the propaganda against polio vaccination to safeguard children against the crippling ailment. She said that health reporting was a specialised beat that needed technical and linguistic skills to document it for the lay person and remove wrong impression about vaccination at community level.

“Health reporters need skills and data analysis, trends, statistics and figures for their stories. This beat should be assigned to trained journalists so that the real picture can be presented to people,” she said.

Ms Younas said that at district level one correspondent covered all matters including health. Valuable insights into health trends and issues helped in shaping effective public health strategies and necessary legislation.

“Health news hardly gets space on front or back page unless it is pandemic like Covid, deaths, injuries and casualties. We need to properly highlight the sufferings of families due to polio,” she said.

Dr Nabeel Liaquat, the provincial disease surveillance officer of Emergency Operations Centre, said that polio could be eradicated when each child was immunised. “Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis,” he said.

Dr Wisam Hazem of Unicef said that his organisation had no programme of its own but supported government’s initiatives. “The government has massive workforce and we are just collaborating to ensure that children stay safe from diseases. We appeal to people to administer vaccines to children up to five years in each and every campaign. We can eliminate poliomyelitis only through vaccination,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2024