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| The resistance to immunisation in Mallapuram seems to be informal. UNICEF Photo |
Staff correspondent, September 20, 2015, NewsCrunch
While India's immunisation programme has stamped out diseases like polio and drawn the world's praise, Kerala's Mallapuram is sticking out like a sore thumb.
The Hindu reports that 36% of the children here, in the age group 5 to 10, have never had any immunisation.
This leaves them vulnerable to tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis-B, meningitis, measles, and polio myelitis, which other Indian children are protected against.
The orthodox elements in Mallapuram, which has significant Muslim population, resist immunisation saying they would rather rely on God to take care of the kids. This is a pattern seen in backward-regions elsewhere such as pockets of Pakistan where conservative elements have opposed immunisation.
The Hindu quoted a madrasa teacher in Tirur saying he had more trust in Allah than in doctors. The district is now looking at an outbreak of diphtheria, which has already claimed one 12-year-old child, who had not been immunised.
The resistance to immunisation seems to be informal. The two powerful Sunni factions in the district maintain that they have not called for an official boycott of immunisation programmes. But as The Hindu notes, they have made no attempt to promote it as well.
Even the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which holds sway over Malappuram, is yet to do anything substantial to break the taboo.
But there is a hint that the situation may have improved of late.While India's immunisation programme has stamped out diseases like polio and drawn the world's praise, Kerala's Mallapuram is sticking out like a sore thumb.
The Hindu reports that 36% of the children here, in the age group 5 to 10, have never had any immunisation.
This leaves them vulnerable to tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis-B, meningitis, measles, and polio myelitis, which other Indian children are protected against.
The orthodox elements in Mallapuram, which has significant Muslim population, resist immunisation saying they would rather rely on God to take care of the kids. This is a pattern seen in backward-regions elsewhere such as pockets of Pakistan where conservative elements have opposed immunisation.
The Hindu quoted a madrasa teacher in Tirur saying he had more trust in Allah than in doctors. The district is now looking at an outbreak of diphtheria, which has already claimed one 12-year-old child, who had not been immunised.
The resistance to immunisation seems to be informal. The two powerful Sunni factions in the district maintain that they have not called for an official boycott of immunisation programmes. But as The Hindu notes, they have made no attempt to promote it as well.
Even the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which holds sway over Malappuram, is yet to do anything substantial to break the taboo.
23,912 out of 342,657 children below the age of five in the district have been kept out of all immunisation efforts.
In other words, 36% of children between 5 and 10 years and just 6% of children below 5 years are not immunised. A detailed probe is required to bring out how the number of immunised chidlren has gone up in the recent years.