Polio a "Western Plot"?

Published by Omrow on 19 September, 2008 - 13:48

Polio a Western Plot?

I read that immunisation through vaccinations are under suspicions by Islamic clerics.

Who has heard of this before?

Some crazy Islamic cleric in Pakistan and one is Nigeria are both saying that the Polio vaccine is a west's attempt to infect muslim children so that when they grow up they won't have babies and this will lessen muslim populations.

Some doctors working for western companies have been kidnapped by cleric's followers.

Whats your views on this report:

Its one crazy story I read today.

MUSLIM REFUSE WESTERN POLIO VACCINES - DOCTORS KIDNAPPED

Polio re-emerging across the country because families refuse vaccinations on social, religious grounds

Fear tactics in Tribal Areas echo 2003 situation in Nigeria

Polio vaccination opponents believe they are made from haram materials

A far more dangerous obstacle is kidnappings. With the government rapidly losing control over the Tribal Areas, Volunteers have been kidnapped this year. Others have been beaten. In 2006, two Volunteers were shot dead on their way back from trying to convince a local jirga to support a vaccination drive.

In June, four of our volunteers were kidnapped and kept for two days. In areas under the militant Taliban, our volunteers sometimes encounter severe beatings.

In the Tribal Areas, radical Islamic clerics such as Maulana Fazlullah have convinced many residents that United States manufactured polio drops are meant to sterilise Pakistanis and reduce the Muslim population. “If the Pakistani government wants to give our children these drops, then they have to manufacture them in this country,” said Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban, Fazlullah’s militant organisation.

Khan also echoed a Fazullah sermon that anyone who becomes crippled or dies from polio can become a martyr because he has refused to take vaccine, which contains haram or forbidden materials. “There are other diseases also — like hepatitis, typhoid etc. Why is everyone concentrating on polio? See, this is an American conspiracy.””

Haram: The Tehreek-e-Taliban and others who oppose polio vaccinations claim these drops are made from pig fat and hence are forbidden or haram for Muslims. Others fear polio vaccines can cause sterilisation and a minority adamantly believe these vaccines are completely ineffective, so not much can be gained from vaccinating their children. A few religious extremists also claim it’s un-Islamic to interfere with God’s will, though this view is not widely held.

Polio up in Pakistan as clashes impede vaccination

Reuters - ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, Fri Sep 19, 2008

Fighting between the Pakistani army and Islamist militants as well as hostility towards vaccinating teams has led to a sharp increase in polio cases in Pakistan this year, health workers said on Friday.

Pakistan is one of the few countries where the deadly, crippling disease still exists. Polio, spreads through poor hygiene, and is also endemic in Nigeria, India and Afghanistan.

Pakistan has had 55 polio cases this year compared with 32 last year and 39 in 2006.

Pakistani forces have been battling militants in the northwest of the country, in areas on the Afghan border, disrupting efforts to make sure every child gets vaccination drops.

"Parts of Swat and parts of FATA, we haven't been able to go and immunise children for quite some time. So that means we have a build-up of susceptible children that haven't been immunised." said Melisa Corkum, a UNICEF communications officer.

FATA is the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, seven semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun dominated regions in the northwest, where militants fighting the Pakistani government and foreign forces in Afghanistan have sanctuaries.

Swat is a valley in North West Frontier Province where fighting has also been intense.

"Vaccinators are really putting themselves at risk in these areas," Corkum said.

Polio can be prevented with the use of vaccines that have eliminated the virus as a public health threat in most of the world.

But as well as fighting between the army and militants, vaccinating teams also have to contend with suspicion and even hostility from people who believe the vaccination campaign against the highly infectious disease is a plot.

Some Muslim clerics in the conservative tribal belt along the Afghan border have opposed anti-polio campaigns, saying it is a foreign-funded ploy to sterilise people.

Last year, a doctor and a health worker were killed in a roadside blast in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, leading to the suspension of a vaccinating campaign.

A Health Ministry official said vaccinators had even been attacked during brief peace pacts between militants and government forces.

"During recent peace deals with the militants, the government had tried to stop them from attacking our vaccinators. But still they attacked," said the official, who declined to be identified.

"During the last campaign one of our doctors was kidnapped," he said.

Health authorities have run information campaigns with the help of Muslim clerics in favour of vaccination to try persuaded parents of the benefits of immunisation.

What do you think?