Somalis reject al-Shabaab's polio vaccine claims
June 8, 2013 at 12:06 am
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2013 at 12:10 am by cratehorus.)
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Quote:For over two weeks al-Shabaab militants failed to derail a government-led national campaign to inoculate children against polio, public health officials said.
As part of their propaganda campaign, militants roamed the streets in areas they control in Bulo Barde, Buale and Baardheere, spreading falsehoods about the vaccine to scare-off parents.
"This vaccine is a Western agenda against Muslims", militants said using loud speakers atop circulating vehicles, according to Abdinur Dahir, 46, a Bulo Barde resident.
"This vaccine contains toxic things that could make children sterile," the militants said. "This vaccine contains the virus that causes AIDS. Keep your children safe!"
Other al-Qaeda-linked groups have disseminated similar propaganda targeting vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan and Pakistan to inoculate children against poliomyelitis, a largely eradicated but highly-infectious disease that can cause irreversible paralysis.
Many Somalis, however, refused to believe al-Shabaab's claims about the vaccine's dangers.
In fact, families welcomed the campaign and gathered in large numbers to have their children vaccinated, said Yasin Nur, a vaccination programme official in the Health Department at the Ministry of Development and Social Affairs.
"This high demand on the part of families to vaccinate their children reveals that misleading claims made by al-Shabaab have fallen on deaf ears," Nur told Sabahi.
The Somali government launched the two-part polio immunisation campaign in mid May after four cases of polio were confirmed in the past six months. The campaign's first phase, from May 14th till May 18th, aimed to vaccinate more than 440,000 children aged 10 and under. The second phase, from May 28th till June 2nd, targeted more than 640,000 children in the same age group, Nur said.
The Somali Ministry of Development and Social Affairs conducted the campaign with help from the World Health Organisation, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and other non-profit organisations.
Partnering with community leaders, educating parents
In the run-up to the immunisation drive, local authorities and tribal and religious leaders conducted publicity campaigns to persuade communities to ignore al-Shabaab rumours and educate them about the importance of vaccinating their children against polio.
Isaaq Aadan, who co-ordinated the vaccination campaign in the Bay and Bakool regions, rated the publicity campaign there a success.
"The awareness efforts to mobilise local communities about the importance of this vaccination has resulted in more families agreeing to vaccinate their children as community elders, religious leaders and leaders of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps have urged people to take advantage of this vaccination," Aadan said.
Before the immunisation drive, community mobilisation teams also conducted house-to-house visits to urge parents not to believe the false claims made by al-Shabaab, he said. The health workers told parents about the dangers of polio infection and that the only way to protect their children against it was through vaccination.
"In spite of the propaganda and rumours that have been spread by al-Shabaab against the polio vaccination, this time around, we have witnessed somewhat [of an] improvement as most families have come to understand the importance of vaccinating their children, which is why they welcomed the vaccination teams during the campaign," Aadan said.
http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/h...feature-01
