Facebook’s delegation also said that it will counter propaganda by anti-vaxxers which made hurdles in polio programme last year and because of that we have seen an increase in the number of polio cases which rose up to 136.
Facebook Will Help Pakistan to Fight Against Polio
The outbreak of measles was observed in the United States just because number of people don’t vaccinate their children due to some videos on social media that went viral. That was the the reason that the US health departments decided to campaign against anti-vaxxers. It created an opportunity for Pakistan as the number of videos have been seen on social media, which were shared by different people, claiming that vaccines are Haram and are using as a conspiracy against Muslim-e-ummah. NEOC Coordinator Dr Rana Safdar said: “In 2018 we faced an issue that a number of posts of anti-vaxxers were shared in Pakistan triggering the masses to refuse vaccination of their children and that led to rise in number of polio cases last year,” According to Dr Safdar, that Facebook wants to play their role to counter campaign against polio vaccination. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza also emphasized on the importance of communicating correct health information online and highlighted the need in order to counter harmful content on social media. Recommended Reading: Facebook to play active role in Elimination of Violence against Women