Polio

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Zimbawe's ban on vaccines for polio

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snakelegs said:
i wondered about this too!
actually, there are people in the u.s. who are paranoic about vacines and the paranoia is not totally unfounded as experiements have been done on people before, without their knowledge.
here is probably the most famous one:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762136.html
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The Tuskegee study is widely misunderstood. When it started, there was no effective therapy for the disease in question. Of course, the failure to disclose to the participants is absolutely impermissible from an ethical standpoint and I am sure there was no small amount of racism among the researchers.

It is quite a leap to impugn the polio vaccine effort because of a study which failed to meet current ethical standards but did not actively harm any of the participants. I realize, snakelegs, you are not making this link. There is indeed a lot of paranoia regarding vaccines, even in the US.
 
KAding said:
Are you sure that you mean Zimbabwe? First of all, there aren't many Muslims there. Secondly, I can't find anything about this.
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there are very few Muslims in Zimbabwe according to the national figures.


Zimbabwe Republic of Zimbabwe C and I 50; C 25; I 24
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Source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/rel_coun2.htm

The country is considered to be Christian.

There is no state religion, but between 60 and 70 percent of an estimated population of 13 million belong to the mainstream Christian denominations, with between 2-3 million identifying themselves as Roman Catholic. However, there are no reliable statistics on the exact number of Christian churches or religious movements in the country. There is also a small Muslim population in the country, estimated at less than 1 percent. The evangelical denominations, mostly Pentecostal churches, are the fastest growing congregation in the country. They appeal to large numbers of disillusioned members from the established churches who reportedly are attracted by these church leaders' promises of miracles and messages of hope at a time of social and economic stress. The remainder of the population consists of Greek Orthodox, Jews, practitioners of traditional indigenous religions, indigenous syncretistic African religions that mix Christianity and traditional African culture and beliefs, a small number of Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists.
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Source: http://atheism.about.com/library/irf/irf00/blirf_zimbabwe00.htm
 
I don't know why Barney said this was Zimbabwe and Mugabe. He does not have such a policy as far as I can tell. I could only find this:

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/intern...Sect=143&sid=8088216&cKey=1186561378000&ty=ti
August 8, 2007 - 8:12 AM
Pakistani polio campaign targeted by wary tribesmen

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have suspended a campaign against polio in parts of a remote tribal region after villagers opposing the drive against the crippling disease threatened health workers, an official said on Wednesday.

Some Muslim clerics in the conservative tribal belt along the Afghan border have opposed anti-polio campaigns, saying it is a foreign-funded ploy to sterilise people. Pakistan is one of the few countries where the deadly disease still exists.

"We have stopped vaccination programme after tribesmen threatened our workers and broke their equipment in Sarkari Killa and Kotgi Charmang villages on Tuesday," Dr. Cherag Hussain told Reuters, referring to areas in the Bajaur tribal region.

Hussain said there were up to 4,000 children to be vaccinated in the two villages.

"They have threatened to kill health workers if they visit again," Hussain said of a national drive this year to immunise 32 million children of under 5-year of age.

The campaign in the Bajaur region of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) was also suspended early this year after a doctor and a health worker were killed in a roadside blast.

Bajaur is considered a hotbed of support for Islamic militants.

The polio campaign coordinator, Dr. Javed Khan, said that about 175,000 vaccinators were taking part in the national drive against the disease that has been eliminated in developed nations but persists in parts of India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan had 39 cases last year, but the number has come down to 11 this year. Khan said the genetic origin of four of the cases had been traced to the tribal region, including Bajaur.
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So I assume this was a mistake and really about Pakistan?
 

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