Mumbai: Their infants lost to measles, mothers spread word of vaccination

MUMBAI: The advice came from a mother's heart. "Vaccination can save the lives of your children. Get your children immunised," said Shaheen Khan, whose 14-month-old son Faizal was among the first victims of the ongoing measles outbreak in the city.
Addressing a small gathering at a parent-teacher meeting at Shivaji Nagar on Wednesday, she said she did not want any other kid in Govandi to meet the same fate.As she spoke, other mothers lapped up her soulful testimony.
Shaheen and her relative Sahrunissa Khan lost three children of their families to measles as they weren't vaccinated. Now, about 25 days after losing their boys to the viral disease, the mothers have become advocates for vaccination in their small way.
The gathering was held to inform mothers of pre-primary and primary class students how to identify symptoms of measles and the importance of vaccination.
"If I can convince even one mother to vaccinate her child, I will feel my son's death has not gone to waste," she said, adding she repents not having vaccinated her son.
The back-to-back deaths of Shaheen's child and Sahrunissa's sons, aged 3 and 5 in October, blew the lid off the measles outbreak sweeping Govandi since late September. Of 1,300-odd suspected cases, almost 80% are from Govandi.
Local civic officials said the mothers have participated in a few informal talks and are ready to speak in more localities. "When Shaheen spoke at Gyansathi, mothers listened with rapt attention," a senior official said.
Sahrunissa told TOI that they started talking to mothers in the neighbourhood after their kids succumbed. "It is not just vaccination, we're telling mothers to rush their babies to hospital if they come down with any symptoms," she said.
The 39-year-old recently delivered her tenth child. Claiming not to be fully unaware of vaccination, she blamed frequent travels to her native place for failing to immunise the kids.
BMC has started a series of parent-teacher meetings in Govandi to prevent school outbreaks. BMC and representatives from World Health Organisation (WHO) interacted with 40 maulvis and local private practitioners on Thursday.
The maulvis committed to making an announcement about the vaccination camps during prayers on Friday. "The message will reach at least 50,000 people," said Abdul Rehman Ziyai of Raza Academy. Interestingly, priests and doctors at the meeting told assistant medical officer H Ubale that drains and roads are not cleaned routinely in Govandi. "Cleanliness is important too, just like vaccination," said a maulvi.