Mass vaccination campaigns to eradicate polio in Madagascar–
Due
to the fact that I just got my polio shot, I thought it would be great to do an
article relating to this! I know we have talked a lot about how to stay healthy
in Madagascar, and how to prevent sickness, but what about the people that live
there?
This
Saturday marked the end of a nationwide campaign in Madagascar to fight polio.
Health teams from UNICEF travelled across the country and made it their mission
to vaccinate 5 million children between the ages of 0 and 5, in just 4 days!
The
event ending up being very successful, yet there were parents who did not want
their children to be vaccinated.
The article
from AfricaNews.com explained that the reason some parents refuse the vaccines
for their children is because their kids got sick after the last time they were
vaccinated. However the refusals do not happen very often. Another reason some people
might be against the vaccinations is because it is against their religious
beliefs. It is really interesting how much culture and environment can affect people’s
health and life decisions.
One
of the main reasons for this event was the recent outbreak of Polio in 2015 after
a dozen cases were diagnosed due to poor hygiene conditions. This was the first
cases of polio in over 9 years. 1 in 4 children are estimated to not have
enough immunity against the virus. Doctors and experts are still working out
ways to improve this.
Here is the link!
- Jo
Langner
Thanks, Jo! Encouraging progress on a tenacious disease! Just imagine the logistics needed to figure out which children are vaccinated, and which are not, from population centers to remote villages with partial records. I have heard (via brother who works extensively on polio eradication) that vaccination teams in Africa quickly win over many of the parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their children by bringing survivors of polio into the village to warn of the risks first-hand...
ReplyDeleteWhat would you do, faced with such a choice? What are some of the most severe reactions children can face from the vaccine, I wonder?
(Emma)
On an interesting tangent, have you checked out polio eradication progress in other countries? I've heard Pakistan, of the last remaining outposts of the virus, presents a narrow window of opportunity for eradication just now. Remember that Taliban shooting of Pakistani school-children in 2014, the Peshawar attacks? Turns out that some of the casualties were children of Pakistan's military leaders. In a tragic but unexpectedly good turn for polio eradication, those bereaved leaders are increasingly supporting inoculators by retaliating ever more harshly against the extremists who have been largely hindering eradication efforts in parts of Pakistan. Here's an optimistic outlook on complete eradication there in the near future: http://tribune.com.pk/story/988536/pakistan-may-be-polio-free-by-next-year-unicef-health-official/
ReplyDelete(Emma)
Interesting stuff. You mentioned some parents refuse to have their children vaccinated on religious grounds; do you know more about that? For instance, is it needles that go against their beliefs, or what?
ReplyDeleteDavid