Headlines
Local issues take a toll on immunisation drive in UP district
Local
issues take a toll on immunisation drive in UP district
By
Ashish Mishra
Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), May 5 (IANS) "Give us rations or a railway crossing
otherwise we will not bring our children for immunization," clamoured
residents of some villages in this Uttar Pradesh district as they put local
issues above the health of their children to stall an immunization drive to
vaccinate children against seven diseases, including tuberculosis, measles and
hepatitis B.
While some residents here are boycotting the regular immunization campaign to
protest against official apathy in not meeting their demands for railway
crossing, others are demanding regular supply of rations which they don't get.
Residents of Mohammadpur Bihar village, located in Binawar area of Badaun
district, are boycotting the immunization drive over the abandoning of a
railway crossing near their village after the railway line was converted from
metre gauge to broad gauge.
"The villagers were adamant about not bringing their children to the
immunization camp unless their demand to re-open the railway crossing is met.
They also staged demonstrations in this connection," Badaun Chief Medical Officer
(CMO) Deepak Saxena told this visiting IANS correspondent.
This is not a problem peculiar to only Binawar; residents of several other
places in the district have resorted to such protests or have boycotted the
immunization programme to force the acceptance of their local demands.
In Nanakheda village of Jihani block, the authorities faced a similar
situation.
"In Nanakheda, the residents had threatened to boycott the immunization
drive and had demanded that ration should be distributed every month in their
village," Saxena said.
Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Health Department said local issues take a toll
on the immunization drive in various areas of the district.
However, to get around this problem, the government is taking several steps
like addressing the issues and spreading awareness among the villagers about
the vaccination drive.
Saxena told IANS: "To resolve the matter, we took the help of the
administration and somehow persuaded the residents to participate in the
immunization programme and not to boycott the campaign to protest the closure
of the railway crossing.
"We also told them the benefits of immunization and urged them not to use
it as a tool of addressing their local issues," he said.
The Mission Indradhanush, depicting seven colours of the rainbow, launched by
the Narendra Modi government aims to cover all those children by 2020 who are
either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine
preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,
tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
Officials of health department said that similar bottlenecks were also reported
during Pulse Polio Campaign in the district. Such situations occur because of
lack of awareness among the people about vaccination programme.
"We are spreading awareness about the vaccination drive with the help of
UNICEF. We tell them (people who boycott the drive) it is a national programme
so they should be cautious," Saxena said.
But this is not the only stumbling block.
Besides these local issues, the geographical position of the districts also
poses a problem.
Officials say Badaun district is covered by the rivers namely Ganga, Ramganga
and Behgul from three sides.
"During monsoon season which results in floods it becomes tough to reach
the remote villages situated in this region. We have to reach these villages
through boats and even walk sometime to conduct vaccination there," Saxena
added.
He, however, said that the government was taking every possible effort to ensure
cent per cent immunization in such areas too.
"We are reaching out to such places and are determined to conduct sessions
there. We are trying to cover most of the kids there before floods. We are
putting more focus on such places," he added.