Education, health, and social work are not services but businesses that are funded by international organizations and benefit both government and non-government bodies in the third world. The case of polio vaccination is an example of this situation.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) gets billions of dollars for vaccination campaign, every effort is made to keep such health issues alive in media, with major newspapers running a separate section for Polio coverage, trying level best to make it look like a disaster (only 200 something cases – even those not independently verified – in a population of 180 million).
Interesting conflicts of interest arise when one or more contending parties try to take a lion’s share in the profits of the heath business. Such a case in recent news came to surface when the federal body called National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was recommended by Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for leading the polio vaccination program.
The administration in the country’s provinces at once reacted to the IMB recommendation. They disagreed with the recommendation and claimed it was not NDMA’s job. Their reaction is very much expected. Since they are cashing this opportunity of earning by polio vaccination, from admin at the top to the door-to-door health workers at the other end, losing this money to the federal administration gives them the creeps.
On the federal level, the government has been trying to bring the country’s military in the polio vaccination campaigns, although the country’s history shows that the military has not been able to stop or prevent terror attacks and the federally administered areas – which were supposed to be under federal rule – are usually the most affected with terrorism issues. At the same time, provincial governments have failed in improving health situation in their respective jurisdictions.
The failure of the federal and provincial governments as well as non-government/non-profit organizations is all underlain by one disturbing fact: they do not man to serve people, only to grab as much of the funds and aid as they can from donors. It’s not about health, it’s all about their business.
