Many of us take the availability of education and medical aid for granted. The village of Swabi in Northwest Pakistan now has no access to these commodities.The Christian Science Monitor posted an article last night on the attack that took place last Tuesday, January 1, 2013, when five female teachers and two health workers in the town of Swabi were gunned down by militants. The seven had worked at a community center in the town that included a primary school and a medical clinic where children of poor families were given a polio vaccination.
Some militants stand against the vaccination campaigns, accusing the workers of being spies for the U.S. and attempting to sterilize Muslim children receiving the vaccine.
The group of seven were driving home from the community center when they were attacked by four militants on motorcycles who sprayed the vehicle with bullets. They spared the young son in one of the women, and the driver of the van survived and is now being treated at Peshawar hospital.
There were no claims of responsibility, and no arrests were made.
I believe it is important to emphasize that the group of seven were employed by a non-governmental organization, so the militants and government did not approve of this community center.
Javed Akhtar, the director of the NGO said that the community center will temporarily be shut down, but he does not know when it will open again. I assume this is due to fear of another anti-polio vaccine attack.
Understandably, the local villagers were devastated by this morbid attack. Hundreds of townspeople gathered at the burial site in honor of the seven victims who brought education and health to their small town.
Author Inam Ur Rehman quotes villager Gul Afzal Kha:
"What is their crime?" he asked. "They were just giving free education and health assistance to our children."
Rehman also touches upon the crude truth of how dangerous it is to be a woman educators and aid workers in Islamic countries where militants oppose their work.
Last month, nine people working on the anti-polio campaign were attacked and killed by militants. Four of the shootings took place in Northwest Pakistan where the Tuesday's attack took place.
This article reminds us of how lucky we are to have access to proper education and most of all proper health. To be denied these seems out of the question, yet educators and health workers are being shot for supplying this is poor communities.
To read the full article, visit this site: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0102/5-female-teachers-killed-in-Pakistan-Another-anti-polio-vaccine-attack
Photo credit is from the same source.
I feel that this attack is awful and reflects poorly on our society of human beings. It's sad that people who are trying to do the right thing by educating and vaccinating people living in poverty or remote areas can't be trusted because of where they are from. People living in Pakistan who are enrolled in their army believed that the health center was trying to give out vaccinations that would sterilize their youth. It's astonishing that they think this, but what's even worse is that no arrests have been made yet after innocent people were just slaughtered for no reason. In some dangerous and unstable countries I think that the US government or non-government organizations should only send the vaccinations and medical supplies to the countries that need them with some directions so that they can still be effective. Also this advantage would not have the health organizations worrying for their own lives when they have to worry about the peoples' lives that they are trying to help.
ReplyDeleteYeah Alex, I agree with you that the US should only send vaccines to countries that need them, but then again the US can't be responsible for providing the vaccines for every country in need. Other organizations (such as the UN etc.) need to step up as well.
ReplyDeletePolio, being a disease that was eradicated from the United States back in the late 70's/early 80's, is not a disease that people would still think about when contrasted to "modern" epidemics like AIDS. It's interesting to me that in some parts of the world many diseases that used to be epidemic and endemic there were eradicated but still remain in other parts of the globe. It makes me wonder how fair it really is, that first world countries are able to get the supplies and help they need simply because they have the money and resources, while other third world countries may not be in a financial or social situation appropriate to receiving or purchasing this help.
David this article reminds me about our studies of Cholera, and how when it was thought that bacteria, not bad air (as the Miasma Theory would have previously argued) was the cause of the disease. Many people i'm sure disagreed with this but it was their ignorance(such as the people who thought the vaccines for Polio would sterilize the kids) that ended up being their hamartia.
I thought this'd was very interesting because it shows how different culture is around the world. The fact that people volunteering for their community's health and education are being killed. It's sad to see that many places around the world are not so fortunate like the audited States is. It really makes me want to do something as a person to help these people in other countries struggling for freedom. This article was very informative and makes you think of how lucky we really are. I also agree with Vallis when she states that we wouldn't think Polio would be a modern epidemic. Hopefully the problems around the world will be solved one day and education and health care will be offered all around the world,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex, Vallis, and Tiffany that it is very unfortunate that many people around the world do not have the availability of education and medical aid that we are offered. Countries with money and resources are able to offer and distribute imperative vaccines to protect their citizens with one thought in mind, their health. I find it very disturbing that what the five female teachers and two health workers were killed for was distributing necessary vaccines to the poor children of Swabi, something that is done in the U.S on a daily basis. The fact that the health workers were gunned down by their own government also brings a bigger question to my mind, why are innocent educators being murdered for an operation that only protects the children of the village and is not a spy operation to sterilize the children. This killing was done off of assumption and paranoia that these workers were U.S spies and off of the fact that female educators are opposed by the military. It makes me feel very lucky that we have a stable government who does not discriminate against the work of women or kill our own citizens off of assumptions and accusations with no tangible evidence.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad because the people who were killed were trying to help others. They did nothing wrong, and it is bad that the government not only doesn't try to help keep their people healthy and safe, but they seem to be ignoring the fact that they were gunned down. We are very lucky to live in such a safe country, and it seems almost unreal that a government would allow something like this to happen to its people
ReplyDeleteThis is heartbreaking. Seven innocent lives are gone because they were trying to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteIn my English class we are reading A Room Of One’s Own, which is by a feminist author. We have been having a lot of conversations as to why women were a lower class as well as how drastically the opinion of women has changed over the years. In my head I pictured the whole world like this. David, reading your chosen article brought me back to reality. There is still so much wrong with this world and this article is proof of that. But there is still so much love as well, as evident by the amount of people who showed up to the burial site.
Distributing life saving vaccines seems like the obvious right thing to do, but with the strong possibility of losing your life, would you still risk it?
My condolences go out to the victims of the shooting, and it is tragic that these people would die in an effort to eradicate epidemic disease in their own country. According to WHO, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are the only countries in which polio is still endemic; India has been clear of the disease as of last February, and all other cases came from people who had contracted the disease in one of the three aforementioned countries. These health workers, as well as others who have died while working to permanently end polio, will be remembered when humanity looks back at how this disease that crippled millions finally came to an end.
ReplyDeleteAs for the militants, I can understand to a degree why they would attack these health workers. In our own country, many are also skeptical of mandatory vaccines, as well as health care in general, and violence against abortion clinics and doctors has been a problem for decades. These people believe that available medical technology should not be practiced, and would go so far as to commit murder to express their views. I do not in any way condone these murders, but the Pakistani assailants are alike in many ways to a parallel minority of radical American citizens.
It is very sad to have lost people doing good things, and my heart goes out to them.
ReplyDeleteIt is always sad when violence happens, but always even more horrible when it happens to people doing good things. In this case it is clear to see that these people had a drive and a passion to get education and medicine to those in need.
Its common place in the U.S.A. to have a good source of medicine available almost everywhere and an event like this does not happen on American soil and military personnel do not have orders or even a motive to try to take out doctors and teachers. This story is just another witness to the need for medicine throughout the world and the struggles that are faced fulfilling this mission.