Understanding the syndrome of techno-centrism through the epidemiology of vaccines as preventive tools

Conquering disease and ill health has been an age old pursuit of man. The scientific and technological revolution of the last century ushered in major and important advances in preventive and curative medical technology which fired a new hope in the fight against communicable diseases. However, the experience over centuries shows that major decline in communicable diseases began much before the advent of modern technology due to advances in the socio-economic and environmental conditions of the people. There has been an attempt by the multilateral and unilateral agencies to supplant the expedient of technological interventions like vaccination campaigns as a substitute to socio-economic advancement in the third world countries. The dividends of this approach have been equivocal and have had an effect of distorting public health priorities in the third world. There seems to be an obsession with technology among the policy planners - a phenomenon that we call as techno-centrism; the latest example of which is the pulse polio campaign. This paper draws upon an epidemiological approach to vaccination programs as a tool to unravel this phenomenon.