The battle against polio in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan

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00:00In Qila Abdullah, 5 cases of poliovirus have been detected among children since May this

00:06year.

00:07It is the highest number recorded in a single district in Balochistan, the country's poorest

00:11province.

00:12In this conservative area, vaccinators who go door-to-door have to be escorted by an

00:17armed guard, as several terrorist groups operate here.

00:25This child's parents agree to have him vaccinated, but many refuse, believing that the vaccine

00:31makes people sterile, or is an attempt by Western countries to spread other diseases.

00:37Conspiracy theories are widespread in this isolated region, where vaccinators are recruited

00:42locally.

00:43Maybe we miss some kids by our mistakes during the last one or two years.

00:53Sometimes, vaccinators don't give the drops to the children of their relatives and fake

00:57mark them as vaccinated, which is the reason we are seeing new cases.

01:04Since the beginning of this year, more than 73 vaccinators have been fired in Balochistan

01:09due to professional misconduct, mainly falsifying vaccination reports.

01:14Naik Mohammed's 11-month-old son is one of the recent polio victims.

01:19His right leg is paralysed for life.

01:24It's not clear to us if he has polio, anemia or any other disease that's causing this deformity.

01:30I'm not aware of what polio disease is, but when the vaccinations come, we take our kids

01:34to get the vaccine.

01:39The polio department is trying to raise awareness among community representatives about the

01:44importance of vaccination.

01:46All of you should help us in eradicating polio from its roots.

01:51There are no women in the room, yet they are the most important pillar in the elimination

01:55of the virus in the region.

01:58Kila Abdullah is a very religious and conservative area.

02:03People don't have the awareness that women can go out of their houses and work.

02:07They think it's a dishonour.

02:09So we are short of women workers and because of that we don't have access to homes, which

02:13increases the chance of missing infants, especially those under the age of one.

02:18Polio resurgence has become a cause of concern for health authorities in Pakistan, with the

02:23number of cases increasing from six last year to 16 this year.

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