Engaging Political Parties Religious Leaders and Tribal Elders in Killa- Abdullah for High Risk Groups
Dec 14, 2014
Engaging Political Parties Religious Leaders and Tribal Elders in Killa-Abdullah for High Risk Groups
Killa-Abdullah a glimpse
Killa Abdullah reported the highest number of polio cases in any district of Pakistan in 2011.
Child vaccinators- lead to missed children
District reported highest number of OPV refusals in any district of Balochistan– more than 7000 (July 2011 PCM)
District reported highest number of children missed due to No Teams 78% (July 2011 PCM )
Following launch of National Emergency Action Plan COMNet structure was launched in Killa-Abdulah including 2 DHCSOs, 8 UCOs and 48 Social Mobilizers in 10 HRUCs
Killa-Abdullah predominantly is inhibited by Pashtoon Achakzai tribe
62% of the cases in the district were from Achakzai sub tribes highest number being Malazai sub tribe
Tribes from the Afghanistan reside in the union councils bordering southern Afghanistan Malazai, Noorzai , Hassanzai
Killa-Abdullah tribal distribution
Name of Parliamentarian
Polio cases
Union councils
Zamarak Khan 3/22 8
Capt. Khaliq Achakzai 16/22 2
Haji M.Nawaz 3/22 3
Key political parties in Killa-Abdullah are :
• PashtoonKhaw Mili Awami Party• Jamait -i-ulema-Islam (F)• Jamait-i-Ulema-Islam(N)• Awami National Party
Killa-Abdullah political parties
More than half of refusals in Killa-Abdullah refused vaccination on religious grounds.
More than 70 Madrissa’s operate in Killa-Abdullah which are popular across the border.
More than 7500 refusals were recorded in the August 2011 round
Killa-Abdullah religious communities
69%
13%
8%
10%
Reasons of refusals -October 2010 (source refusal log book)
Religious(n) Misconception(n)Repeated campaign(n) Others(n)
Tribal EldersReligious Leaders
Political parties
Focus of communication activities- bring everyone together
We started with…
Social Mapping and Micro-planning of High
Risk Union Councils
Social profile-UC Roghani 2
Social Map- Union Council Boghra
Community Meetings with Tribal Elders
Meetings were conducted with tribal elders sensitizing them on the recent outbreak in the district.
Following that the tribal elders –called Jirgha or Majlis in their Baitaks where they invited members of their tribes who were sensitized on OPV safety and efficacy and urged the community to support Polio campaigns by providing eligible polio team members, addressing OPV refusal families and provision of safe passage for the polio teams
Communication team engaged key religious leaders and leadership of religious political parties as JUI as a result• 8 District level “Religious Congregations” held in October and December 2011• Follow up meetings conducted at Madrissa ‘s and local mosques.• Major events included administration of polio drops by JUI (F) leader
Maulana fazal Ur Rehman and written endorsement by Maulana Abdul Ghani who is influential across the borders.
Engaging religious leaders
Involving political parties for Polio Eradication
Meetings were held with prominent political parties of the district.
5 All parties conference was arranged at district level with the support of deputy commissioner .Including JUI(F),JUI(N) , ANP ,PKMAP and other politicians
Parties were urged to provide eligible team members, assist the teams in addressing refusals and promote polio campaigns
What did we achieve ?
s
Grand jirgah on Polio eradication which brought all the political parties, community elders and religious leaders on one forum to eradicate polio from the district
Polio walks representatives from all political parties, religious groups and tribes participated in polio walks held before December 2011 ,January and March 2012 campaign .
Religious leaders and political parties were also actively engaged by public display of support to PEI through inaugurations , mosque announcements and addressing refusals
Cross-Border communications :Regular cross border meetings were conducted between Killa-Abdullah and Boldak team with a particular focus on communications
August, 2011 September, 2011
October, 2011
December, 2011
January, 2012
February, 2012
March, 2012
7560 7373 7342
5660 5760
4273
3247
1586
2736
1950 2150 2400 2627 2650
Recorded refusals during SIAs (August 2011 –March 2012 )
source PCR DataRecorded Covered
30%
20%
5%
13%
32%
Reasons of refusals -March 2012 (source refusal log books)
Religious Misconception DemandRepeated round Others
Marked reduction in religious refusals
What did we achieve ?
August September October December Feb-12 Mar-12124 296
8291109
23742650
Killa-Abdullah refusals covered by COMNet staff
Killa-Abdullah
Improvement
in number of
refusal
children
vaccinated
by COMNet