In the midst of freezing temperatures, health workers at Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) are persistent hard conditions to manage polio vaccinations after an increase in case nationwide last year.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan continue to be the only countries where polio is still endemic, with militants aimed at vaccination team and their security shirts for decades.
On the first day of this year’s annual polio vaccination campaign, a police officer who protected vaccinators in northwestern Pakistan was killed by militants. The campaign is set to last one week.
A health worker administers polio falls to a child under a door to door vaccination campaign in the middle of heavy snow in the Bakwali-Surgan area of Azad Jammu Kashmir’s Neelum Valley, February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP
In Kashmir, health worker Manzoor Ahmad pulled through three meters of snow, courageous temperatures as low as minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) to deliver vaccinations. “It’s a mountainous, challenging area … We arrive at polio vaccination despite the snow,” said Ahmad, who leads the campaign in the region.
Social worker Mehnaz, who has helped the vaccinators since 2018, highlighted the dangers of the extreme climate. “We have no monthly salary … We come here despite the glaciers and sneakers,” she said. “We risk our lives and leave our children at home.”
Health workers sit on snow under a polio vaccination drive in Azad Jammu Kashmirs Neelum Valley on February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP
The challenge this year is greater as Pakistan with a population of 240 million registered at least 73 polio cases in 2024 – an alarming increase from only six cases the year before.
In Surgan, located 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, health workers aim to vaccinate about 1,700 children within the week.
Our goal is to vaccinate 750,000 children under five years across the country with 4,000 teams visiting home, ”said Ahmad. “There have been no polio cases in Kashmir for the past 24 years,” he added proudly.
A health worker marks a child’s finger after administering polio drops during a vaccination drive in Azad Jammu Kashmirs Neelum Valley on February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP
Polio can easily be prevented with an oral vaccine, but incorrect information from some Islamic leaders who mistakenly claim that the vaccine contains pork or alcohol has hindered progress. Despite these challenges, health workers continue their important mission to protect children from the paralyzing disease.
