Saturday, November 23

In Pakistan, polio workers persist despite perils

 

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in a neighborhood of Lahore, Pakistan, Nov. 27, 2023. As the global community marks World Polio Day on October 24, Pakistan faces 40 cases so far this year, compared to six in 2023.

Islamabad, Pakistan —

Pakistan\’s fight to eradicate polio is marked with hopeful highs and disappointing lows. As the global community marks World Polio Day on October 24, the nuclear-armed nation faces a staggering 40 cases so far this year, compared to six in 2023 and 20 the year before. In 2021, the South Asian nation briefly seemed on track to eradicating the paralytic virus, with just one reported case the entire year.

Going door to door to vaccinate children 5 years old and younger against the poliovirus is a perilous task in Pakistan.

Fozia Kalwar became a vaccinator three years ago. A resident of Pakistan\’s southern Sindh province, the 35-year-old widow took the part-time job because she needed the money.

Kalwar makes less than $50 for a week of grueling work during vaccination drives. It is not nearly enough to feed her four children. And the reward is small, she said, for a job that comes with serious security risks.

"I feel very scared, but then I wonder how I will feed my children if I don\’t work," Kalwar told VOA.

She works in a dangerous part of Sindh, where armed bandits rob people in broad daylight.

Fozia Kalwar, pictured in an undated selfie, says she makes less than $50 a week vaccinating people against polio.

Still, it was the report of a sexual assault on a fellow polio worker last month that deeply disturbed her, she said. The victim, who lived a few streets away from Kalwar, was allegedly gang-raped by three men while in the field.

Attacks on polio workers in Pakistan are largely limited to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Militants in the northern province often target polio teams, accusing them of partaking in a "Western conspiracy" to render children infertile through the vaccine. They also claim the vaccine has pork-based ingredients that are forbidden for Muslims to consume.

This year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at least two vaccinators were killed and four wounded, while seven policemen providing security to polio teams died and 30 suffered injuries in four attacks.

However, news of the alleged sexual assault in Sindh shocked many.

After the incident, Kalwar said, many people in her area suggested shutting down the polio program.

"They said, \’It is saving our children, but what about our women?\’" Kalwar told VOA.

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