The persuasive punch

Rojida Begum, an ASHA worker in village Haridamada, Jatni block of Khorda district, Odisha, faced a lot of resistance from the people when she first talked about the Measles-Rubella (MR) campaign. Many parents were apprehensive about it, though it was to be launched in a month’s time on January 29. “Some of them even questioned the intent, alleging it will affect the fertility of the children when they grow up,” she recalls.

Rojida quickly informed the sarpanch about the challenge the campaign may face. A meeting was arranged where villagers were educated about measles rubella . It was tough explaining to them that the whole exercise was meant to protect their children. Both caused by virus, measles is a childhood disease, while the congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) is responsible for irreversible birth defects. The campaign aims to vaccinate children in the age group of nine months to 15 years from MR diseases across the State.

For more than a month all the stakeholders in the campaign, including the anganwadi workers and the ward members of the panchayat, visited every household to try and convince them. “Even on the Republic Day event where lot of people had gathered, they were made aware of the campaign,” says Rojida.

In Haridamada village 64 children out of 84 were vaccinated, while in Badapada 20 of the targeted 26 children were vaccinated. Rojida is confident that with little more motivation, the left out children will be vaccinated in the next round.

Shamshad Begum, another ASHA worker in the locality of Raja Bazaar had reasons to be happy. At the Sacred Hearts Play School not only all the 70 children were vaccinated, but parents of other 29 children from the community wanted their kids to be vaccinated.

But ASHA worker Jay Padma, also at the Jatni block, was not that lucky. Only 99 out of the 184 children targeted were vaccinated at the Hindi Parakalap Upper Primary School in Balichaka Sahi locality. The rest of the parents wanted more time to decide. “Where is the need for vaccinations when there has been no case of measles rubella?” they asked. “The parents of the absent children wanted to wait for some days to see whether any of the children vaccinated had side effects,” Padma recounts. She, however, is confident that they too will fall in line the next time.

Ahead of the vaccination launch, a vigorous campaign including rallies with posters and banners on MR took place with active participation of religious leaders, self-help groups, members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, teachers, health staff and even school children. Some of the students from Carmel English Medium School in Badatota village were chosen as MR Warriors to spread the message.

“The issue had been discussed at parents-teachers meetings and response of the parents has been tremendous,” says Korumelli Raju, the principal of Carmel. Out of the targeted 1,518 children, 1,236 were vaccinated. Other children were absent because they were busy preparing for their exams.

To spread the word, the local media was called for a sensitisation workshop organised by UNICEF ahead of the launch of the campaign that impacted close to 1.13 crore children across the State. During the initial two weeks of the campaign, vaccinations will be carried out in all schools and at the community level. The last week will be devoted to mop up activities in low-coverage areas or children who have been left out.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

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