Muslim nations focus on halal vaccines

[Al-khiyal]

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14, 2007 -- Muslim nations are aiming for self-reliance in producing halal life-saving vaccines to eradicate preventable diseases, officials said Thursday in Malaysia.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian prime minister and chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said that children in Muslim countries faced the highest risk of catching infectious diseases.

"Many of these children suffer diseases such as measles, malaria, and respiratory infections, diseases that can largely be averted and prevented," Abdullah told the OIC's inaugural health conference. "In Western countries, killer diseases like polio are considered to have long been eradicated. In contrast, the polio virus continues to threaten many Muslim countries," he said.

He said that Muslim nations should band together to develop and produce vaccines that were halal, or permissible under Islam.

"We believe that the development of halal vaccines would break new ground for promoting public health in Muslim countries," he said, adding that it would also alleviate fears among Muslim communities about contamination.

Under the concept of halal, pork and its by-products, alcohol, and animals not slaughtered according to Qur'anic procedures are all haram, or forbidden.

Although the OIC has widely approved child vaccines as halal and safe, hardline Islamic activists have argued that Western-made vaccines may contain alcohol or be contaminated by non-halal sources.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) officials at the conference, doubts about the safety of polio vaccine in Nigeria in 2003, led to the re-infection of 27 countries that had become polio free, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Nineteen of those 27 countries were OIC member states," said Hamid Jafari, the WHO's regional advisor on polio.

Muslim nations focus on halal vaccines

[Al-khiyal]

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15, 2007 -- Muslim nations will focus on key areas of child health and vaccine production to eliminate preventable diseases, senior health officials announced Friday in Malaysia.

Health ministers from the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) met in Kuala Lumpur for an inaugural conference to tackle issues including polio vaccination, bird flu prevention, and other infectious diseases plaguing Muslim nations.

In the final declaration, health ministers urged Muslim states to develop and produce their own vaccines to ensure reliable supply and safety.

Officials also called on religious leaders to take responsibility to promote polio vaccination among poor and marginalized Muslim populations.

"Polio eradication is an urgent priority for all OIC member states," the draft statement said.

Polio, a preventable disease, has remained endemic in four countries, three of which are OIC members - Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan, and Nigeria, health experts have said.

Although the OIC has widely approved child vaccines as halal and safe, hardline Islamic leaders have argued that Western-made vaccines may contain alcohol or be contaminated by non-halal sources.

Under the concept of halal, pork and its byproducts, alcohol, and animals not slaughtered according to Qur'anic procedures are all haram, or forbidden under Islam.

"We reaffirm our solemn commitment and support the efforts being made ... to expand national immunization services to reach all unvaccinated children with vaccines of assured quality [halal]," the declaration said.

Vaccination is key to reducing infant mortality, a major issue for OIC countries, which account for 11 of the 16 highest rates of death in children under five in the world.

Malaysian health minister Chua Soi Lek said that half of world's unvaccinated children come from OIC countries and an international agreement was needed to provide funding to immunize children in poorer states.

"We need $540 million for the year 2007-2008 to enable 127 million children to be immunized with multiple polio vaccines," Chua told reporters after the declaration was read.

He said that funding depended on donor countries and urged "rich OIC countries" to contribute and help member states.

The declaration also called on OIC countries to establish national avian influenza plans and urged members to share resources to ensure all Muslim countries receive vaccines and antiviral drugs.

Indonesia is the worst hit from the deadly H5N1 virus, recording 80 deaths so far since bird flu broke out two years ago in all but two of its 33 provinces.

Members of the OIC include nations from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The second OIC health minister's conference will be hosted by Iran in 2008.

Child health key focus among Muslim nations

[Ruks]

i think this is long overdue - since alot of the discoveries were already based upon findings by Muslim scientists long ago. i think that we as muslims are the most dis-organised group in the world! it takes us an unnecessarily, long time to put anything together - i guess we are too busy fighting amongst ourselves. anyhow, this is a step in the right direction - most other groups in society have managed to organise so much for their communities- muslims are always falling behind

[Bent_Bladi]

what?! so some vaccines have unhalal stuff in them?! emta bidna nikhlas min hal oussa?!

ruks - i agree. i hope by the next generation -Muslims will dominate the medical field again

[Ruks]

BB - init tho!

[Cheba_Mami]

read all medical histories that you can find. Even contradictive, one thing is for sure: medicine practise developed everywhere seperately like in Egypt, Greece, India, China and Persia. All contributed much to the medical field then and none of them were muslim by that time. Do not underestimate what all these people have invented.

Also all the vaccinations are not developed by muslims either. and even in this case taken over and adjusted. Making something halal is good, thats not my point.

There should not be one particular group dominating in the medical field, it is something for the whole world meaning all groups.

[Bent_Bladi]

Of course medicine shouldn't "belong" to one group... I actually meant that we Muslims become famous for medical discoveries/achievements again... . It's funny, you'd think this would happen with all the parents forcing their kids to be doctors but maybe that's why it doesn't happen - cuz they're forced.

And I still don't understand why and how the other vaccines aren't hallal . What possible haram ingredient can they use in a vaccine? Alcohol? But there are many types of alcohol - the one that's drinkable is ethanol but they're not necessarily going to put ethanol in the vaccine. And even if they do, Allah forbade us to drink it so we don't get drunk... if they're like a .000000000000000000000001% of it in our blood mixed with stuff that can save our lives then shou 3aleh -- take it!

What else? Pork? I'm pretty sure we're not going to find ground meat in our medicine (i hope not ). But maybe like an enzyme or something... an enzyme... what is an enzyme - it's a protein - it's just a series of carbons, hydrogens, and the occasional nitrogen. It is so small and elementary (and probably found in all mammals) that it should be disregarded ...

anyways - that's just my opinion