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Polio and Indian Rotary - Scholarly Meet

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E radication of polio involved many strategies. The one big challenge that we came across while advocating the use of the oral polio vaccine, was the lack of knowledge about the vac- cine amongst parents. Every mother or father who wants to take their children to an immunisation booth had to be thoroughly informed about the need to administer the vaccine to the children and the effects of exposing the kid to polio-virus if the drops are not taken. India, being a large country with a vast majority of people living in rural and semi-urban areas, the chal- lenge was to take the message cor- rectly to the communities. Due to a combination of factors, we found that the Muslim community harboured certain doubts about the oral polio- vaccine. As huge pockets of the areas where these people lived were out-of-  bounds for he alth work ers and polio - vaccinators, the Government of India and the other partners in the global  pol io er adi cat ion pro gra mme wer e genuinely concerned. That was when Rotary decided to talk to the elite Ulemas of the Muslim community. These scholars, who came together to listen to Rotary’s advocacy meet- ings, went back thoroughly impressed about the vaccine’s properties to pre- vent polio-virus from lurking inside a child. All their misgivings about the myths that surrounded the vaccine were cleared. The birth of the Ulema Committee in 2007 paved the way for speedy eradication of polio in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra and in 2012 India became polio-free for one full year. To reinforce Rotary’s commit- ment, a meeting of the Ulemas was held on March 30, 2012 at Meerut, RI District 3100, in Uttar Pradesh. It was heartening to see over 200 Ulemas coming together with the ‘End Polio  Now’ logo on their dress . Speak ing in one voice every Ulema said that they will work towards eradicating  polio from Ind ia and the world! They reiterated their faith in Rotary and said that they will join any task force that is formed for polio-eradication. Some quoted the holy book Koran and said that protecting children was the best service to God. They even criticised those who had been propa- gating false rumours about the vac- cine and said that such people were enemies of God and mankind! “Let us look beyond our own community and serve the world,” they said. PDG Dr. Brij Bhushan, DGE Sudhir Khanna, DGN Rakesh Singhal, NCM Ajay Saxena and programme coordinator Dr. Arif Khan helped in organising a memorable meeting. The scholars of the Muslim com- munity cheered when they heard that the Government of India recognised their role at the recently concluded Polio Summit 2012 at New Delhi. I requested their help in ensuring that the region remains polio-free and impressed on the need to strengthen routine immunisation programme through their lectures to the members of the com munity. Every noble activity needs people who can rise to the occasion when there is a roadblock. The scholars of the Muslim community have shown that their love for the children of India comes first and that they will integrate the message of polio-eradication dur- ing their weekly  pra yer mee tin gs. With scholars on your side can the task of making India and the whole world polio-free be far behind?  Rtn. Ashok Mahajan Trustee, The Rotary Foundation  Direct or , Rotary Interna tional 2007–2009  Member , International PolioPlus Committee Scholarly Meet
Transcript
Page 1: Polio and Indian Rotary - Scholarly Meet

 

Eradication of polio involved many

strategies. The one big challenge

that we came across while advocating

the use of the oral polio vaccine, was

the lack of knowledge about the vac-

cine amongst parents. Every mother or

father who wants to take their children

to an immunisation booth had to be

thoroughly informed about the need to

administer the vaccine to the children

and the effects of exposing the kid to

polio-virus if the drops are not taken.

India, being a large country with

a vast majority of people living in

rural and semi-urban areas, the chal-

lenge was to take the message cor-

rectly to the communities. Due to a

combination of factors, we found that

the Muslim community harboured

certain doubts about the oral polio-

vaccine. As huge pockets of the areas

where these people lived were out-of-

 bounds for health workers and polio-

vaccinators, the Government of India

and the other partners in the global

 polio eradicat ion programme were

genuinely concerned. That was when

Rotary decided to talk to the elite

Ulemas of the Muslim community.

These scholars, who came together 

to listen to Rotary’s advocacy meet-

ings, went back thoroughly impressed

about the vaccine’s properties to pre-

vent polio-virus from lurking inside a

child. All their misgivings about the

myths that surrounded the vaccine

were cleared. The birth of the Ulema

Committee in 2007 paved the way for 

speedy eradication of polio in Uttar 

Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra and

in 2012 India became polio-free for 

one full year.

To reinforce Rotary’s commit-

ment, a meeting of the Ulemas was

held on March 30, 2012 at Meerut, RI

District 3100, in Uttar Pradesh. It was

heartening to see over 200 Ulemas

coming together with the ‘End Polio

 Now’ logo on their dress. Speaking

in one voice every Ulema said that

they will work towards eradicating

 polio from India and the world! They

reiterated their faith in Rotary and

said that they will join any task force

that is formed for polio-eradication.

Some quoted the holy book Koran

and said that protecting children was

the best service to God. They even

criticised those who had been propa-

gating false rumours about the vac-

cine and said that such people were

enemies of God and mankind! “Let us

look beyond our own community and

serve the world,” they said. PDG Dr.

Brij Bhushan, DGE Sudhir Khanna,

DGN Rakesh Singhal, NCM Ajay

Saxena and programme coordinator 

Dr. Arif Khan helped in organising a

memorable meeting.

The scholars of the Muslim com-

munity cheered when they heard that

the Government of India recognised

their role at the recently concluded

Polio Summit 2012 at New Delhi.

I requested their help in ensuring that

the region remains polio-free and

impressed on the need to strengthen

routine immunisation programme

through their lectures to the members

of the community.

Every noble activity needs people

who can rise to the occasion when

there is a roadblock. The scholars of 

the Muslim community have shown

that their love for the children of India

comes first and that they will integrate

the message of polio-eradication dur-

ing their weekly

 prayer meetings.

With scholars on

your side can the

task of making

India and the whole

world polio-free be

far behind?

 Rtn. Ashok Mahajan

Trustee, The Rotary Foundation

 Director, Rotary International 

2007–2009

 Member, International PolioPlus

Committee

Scholarly Meet

Page 2: Polio and Indian Rotary - Scholarly Meet

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