Dubai: A man dressed in a shalwar kammez and jacket, struggles through waist-high snow and biting cold daily, all to make sure children in Pakistan do not get crippled by polio.
The video of an unnamed polio worker in Pakistan was widely shared on social media, as users were touched by the dedication of a community health worker.
Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Initiative tweeted the video with the comment: “Polio teams work throughout the year to protect your child against polio and it is their tireless efforts and unmatched dedication to which we owe our progress. Thank you to our heroes - our polio workers. #endpolio”
The tweet was liked and retweeted several times by users with many saluting the worker’s commitment and highlighting the importance of the campaign to drive polio out of Pakistan.
Tweep @FatimahRuhi reacted to the tweet, writing: “So true. I had polio health workers coming to give drops when it was raining cats and dogs outside and people were running home and these brave men and women were running to eradicate #polio #appreciatePolioHealthWorkers.”
Other Twitter users urged authorities and people to help provide appropriate clothing to workers to ensure they do not suffer from hypothermia.
Tweep @aaphtabahmad wrote: “There must be fleece trousers and jackets for such dedicated workers for such areas. Instead of waiting for a step from government, being people of Pakistan we can start a compaign for crowd funding to buy for the next season.”
Another Twitter user @KhanFraz added: “This is pathetic, if the government want to run such programmes, they should provide path to workers or at least proper shovels and outfits to walk in the snow. If someone is putting in the effort, he should not be taken for granted and [treated] inhumanely.”
Writing in Urdu, tweep @YaseenBangash64 said: “They are given Rs2,300 [Dh60] per campaign. If we want to eradicate polio in Pakistan, these workers should get Rs300,000 and those who get Rs300,000 should get Rs2,300.”
Pakistan is one of three remaining polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. The country launched the Polio Eradication Programme in 1994 and hopes to get rid of the disease altogether.
However, polio workers often get attacked in Pakistan. In 2017, a polio worker was shot dead in the northwestern part of the country while in January last year, a mother and daughter were killed once again, while administering the drops.
According to a 2017 report by AFP, opposition to all forms of inoculation grew after the US’s Central Intelligence Agency organised a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al Qaida’s former leader Osama Bin Laden. Many people also consider immunisation as “a foreign ploy to sterilise Muslim childrenhttps://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/gunmen-in-pakistan-kill-two-mother-and-daughter-working-to-eradicate-polio-1.2159343”.
