Govandi parents prefer neem leaves to measles shots for kids

MUMBAI: Despite much persuasion by health workers over the last three days, Mohammed Yusuf (21) is opposed to immunising his one-year-old son and three-and-half-year-old daughter against measles. Community health workers visited the family that resides in a 120 sq ft room in Rafi Nagar, Govandi, for the tenth time on Thursday to no avail. That BMC declared a measles outbreak in Govandi recently, has had no impact on their beliefs.

When HT visited the Yusuf’s home along with the auxiliary nursing staff, his wife remained bent over her embroidery work, refusing to pay heed to their advice.

Yusuf, a daily wager, believes measles is not a life threatening disease and is convinced hanging neem leaves at the door will protect his children. He would have agreed to oral vaccination (like polio drops) but is opposed to injections.

“We never got the vaccine. We got measles and survived. So will my children. Neem is purana ilaaj,” said Yusuf.

Two rooms away in the slum, Ruksana Khatun, who has been turning away community health volunteers from her doorstep every day also prefers neem leaves to injections for prevention. She will not get her threeand-a-half-year-old daughter vaccinated against measles.

“The vaccine will give her fever. Neem is fine. I survived measles last year as well,” said Ruksana.

Yusuf and Ruksana are among 96 families in the area who, according to the medical team, are reluctant to vaccinate their under-five-year-olds. There are close to 950 children in this age group in the area.

The health workers, who have been working long hours, said migration, education, and substance abuse are the biggest challenges they face here.

Milind Jawale, the co-ordinator from the health post in the area, said less than 10 per cent of the population here are Mumbaikars. Others are migrants from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

“They are uneducated. With both parents at work,

infants are left to the care of older children. When we call them for vaccinations, parents are not available. This is a crucial reason why children are missing out on vaccination in this area,” said Jawale.

In rare cases that they manage to convince parents, the postvaccination fever makes them paranoid and they refuse to take vaccinations later. Some parents refuse outright while some others make excuses.

Thanks to their daily visits, they know each family well in

Rafi Nagar. Given the outbreak, when Jawale manages to identify a mother whose child is not vaccinated, he urges them to go to the camp set up by BMC right away and get her child immunised.

On Thursday, ahead of the state health department team’s visit to the area, Vinod Rathod, the community mobiliser, reached Rafi Nagar at 9am with the list of addresses of reluctant families.

Need to convince

By noon, he had managed to convince 19 families. Rathod beamed with happiness when he saw two of them at the immunisation camp later.

“I quietly hear them out, listen to their problems and try to turn them around to understanding the virtue of vaccination,” said Rathod. He is one of the four community mobilisers appointed by BMC to help convince reluctant parents.

Apart from M-East ward under which Rafi Nagar-Govandi slums fall, the other wards where the community mobilisers will work are P North, E Ward (Byculla) and L Ward (Kurla).

“The health workers carry out routine immunisation, develop communication skills and work with religious leaders in the neighbourhood. They have been appointed through UNICEF fund,” said a BMC health officer.

Dr Amit Mhatre, paediatrician working in Govandi who informed BMC health officials after seeing a rise in measles cases, said,

“The outbreak occurred because of a large number of unvaccinated children living in the area. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the mass-scale immunisation drive has been compromised. Refusal has been a problem in the area.

“Community engagement and mobilisation of the community is required.”