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Aid Workers Say Suspicion of Westerners Hampering Vaccination Program in Afghanistan
Friday, July 26, 2002
(1:40 AM)
By Paisley Dodds
Associated Press Writer

As an effort to reach high-risk districts in southern Afghanistan, UNICEF coordinated a three-day "mop-up" immunization campaign, which concluded Thursday. Workers were able to reach an estimated 85,000 children under 5. Another campaign is set to begin in September.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- AP
U.N. workers are facing a new challenge in their battle to eradicate polio from Afghanistan -- convincing villagers in remote areas that the campaign isn't a sterilization plot hatched by Western "infidels."

Although workers have successfully reduced the number of polio cases in Afghanistan -- only two have been reported this year compared to 11 last year -- suspicion of Westerners is making it difficult to convince some parents to have their children immunized, aid workers say.

"This vaccine weakens the reproductive system of men and women," said Haji Abdul Nadir, a 47-year-old businessman in Kandahar. "The majority of the people think it's a campaign from the infidels. They're trying to stop the Muslim generation."

Although some countries have eradicated polio, the crippling disease continues to haunt Afghanistan. The country's deserts, rocky mountains and landmine-studded roads make it difficult for medical aid workers to reach isolated settlements.
(More: New Jersey Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Seems I recall similar suspicions regarding that “communist plot” to fluoridate America’s water supplies...

Still holding that a little healthy skepticism is a good thing,
Dan