Vaccinators no longer fear armed attacks, but still fight suspicion and mistrust.
Hafsa Ali, 10, receives anti-polio drops from Shehnaz Bibi, a volunteer who goes door-to-door to administer the vaccine. By Pamela Constable and Pamela Constable Foreign correspondent covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Asia, Latin America and immigration Email Bio Follow Haq Nawaz Khan March 5 at 5:00 AM RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — The one-minute video, recorded in a village in northwestern Pakistan last month, was a poignant cry from one of the world’s last pockets of polio.
The reason for this stunning setback, officials say, is not medical, financial or environmental, although fetid streams and ravines of garbage mar some poor urban communities where the virus keeps being found. With international support, Pakistan has enough vaccine to immunize every child a dozen times over. In January alone, it inoculated 39 million.
In Pakistan, the problem is especially persistent among ethnic Pashtuns, including Afghan visitors, refugees and migrants. Atta said the main route of polio virus runs from the Afghan border, down through the northwest tribal region into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and continues south. About 100 miles southwest lies Rawalpindi, a city of 2 million. It is a major hub for Pashtuns who settled there after fleeing conflict in the northwest, or who trade in fruits and vegetables in open-air markets. Officials say people who travel to the northwest sometimes bring back children who have not been vaccinated.
No parents were present to raise objections. It also helped that the volunteer administering the drops was Zahida Bibi, 45, a familiar figure in the community.
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