Underserved and overdosed? Muslims and the Pulse Polio Initiative in rural north India

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12253765
AutoresPatricia Jeffery (University of Edinburgh, autor correspondente), Roger Jeffery (0000-0003-1702-7253, University of Edinburgh)
Ano2011
Volume19
Fascículo2
Páginas117-135
Data de publicação2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoContemporary South Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0958-4935 • E-ISSN: 1469-364X
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09584935.2010.537744
OpenAlexW2150650259
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas26

During the 2000s, confirmed polio cases in India have been increasingly localised in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, especially amongst Muslim children. Muslims have also been at the sharp end of the Pulse Polio Initiative (PPI) and the associated ‘Underserved Strategy’ designed to counter civilian resistance to the programme. Our critique of the PPI draws on long-term research in rural UP and focuses on the programme's socio-political implications. We discuss popular rumours about polio vaccine and official responses to resistance. Taking a longer term view of top-down single-issue public health programmes, we argue that Muslims in western UP, as a marginalised minority, have good reason to be suspicious of the PPI. Moreover, the PPI arguably reflects the agendas of global funders, not the priorities of local communities. Villagers – Hindu and Muslim alike – have repeatedly criticised government health services for failing to deal with the health issues that worry them most. Their concerns echo other critiques of the PPI, particularly the diversion of resources from other health-related activities that could address the social determinants of health and health inequalities

Development economics · Economic growth · Government (linguistics · Hinduism · Poliomyelitis · Political science · Politics · Public health · Resistance (ecology · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Uttar pradesh · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Viral Infections and Immunology Research · Virology