Razia’s passion to eradicate polio in Afghanistan

HERAT, Afghanistan 15 March 2022 – In a recent polio planning meeting in Herat city, west of Afghanistan, Razia a Female Mobiliser Vaccinator (FMV) sat attentively, following discussions on how best to increase polio awareness and influence vaccine acceptance in the community. The meeting attended by UNICEF provincial communication officers, district communication officers, FMVs, Extenders and members of the Regional Emergency Operating Center (REOC) aimed at unearthing key community initiatives that could be leveraged to improve polio eradication efforts in the western region on the country.

The discussions continued and suddenly shifted to the security of polio workers, following the killing of 8 polio vaccinators in Kunduz province during the February 2022 campaign. Immediately, Razia felt compelled to participate on this topic and seized the opportunity to share her ideas.

“It is sad such devoted and hardworking frontline workers were targeted,” said Razia who works at the local health center as FMV, providing health education to mothers. “We are not afraid to continue to vaccinating children. However, I’m calling upon government authorities at national and provincial level to ensure polio workers are secure and support the best campaign modality to reach every child.” She added.

Razia is a polio survivor. She got paralyzed at a very young age and walks using a stick to support herself.

“One of my legs is disabled,” explains Razia who struggled as a child and grew up stigmatized and ostracized by family members. “No one wanted me except my mother. The community and close relatives saw me as an embarrassment and when I enrolled to school, it was perceived as wasting time.”

Razia recalls a terrible experience at school when a teacher told her bluntly to stop coming to school because with her disability she was heading nowhere. The teacher insisted that she should stay at home and get married.

“Things like these hurt me deeply,” explained Razia. “I missed my childhood, I used to see kids playing but I couldn’t play with them.”

Against all odds, Razia finally graduated from college and worked as a midwife before joining the polio programme as FMV. Today, she takes pride vaccinating children, knowing they’ll be protected from polio for life.

“I believe no child should suffer from the ravages of polio and undergo what I went through as a child,” declared Razia. “I am a living example for what polio can do to children. I want to use my polio experience to convince parents refusing to vaccinate their children.” She added.

UNICEF has recruited 473 FMV across the country to provide support to other the women and encourage them to vaccinate their children. To date, 65, 007 females have received polio messages through FMV educational sessions. Thanks to the people of Canada for their generous support of 250 FMVs working in health facilities to raise polio awareness. The programme will continue to build their capacity to promote social change in eradicating polio in Afghanistan.