Amid freezing temperatures, health workers in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) are supporting hard conditions to administer vaccines against polyomyelitis after an increase in cases of the entire country last year.
Pakistan and neighbor Afghanistan remain the only countries where polyomyelitis remains endemic, with militants aimed at vaccination equipment and their safety escorts for decades.
The first day of the annual polio vaccination campaign of this year, a police officer who protects the vaccinators in the northwest of Pakistan was killed by militants. The campaign is scheduled to last a week.
A health worker manages polyomyelitis to a child during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in the middle of strong snow in the Bakwali-Surgan area of the Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir, on February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP.
In Kashmira, the health worker Manzoor Ahmad walked through three feet of snow, defying temperatures as low as less six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) to deliver vaccines. “It is a mountainous and challenging area … we arrive for vaccination against polyomyelitis despite snow,” said Ahmad, who directs the campaign in the region.
The social worker Mehnaz, who has been helping vaccinators since 2018, highlighted the dangers posed by the extreme climate. “We have no monthly salary … We come here despite glaciers and avalanches,” he said. “We risk our lives and leave our children at home.”
Health workers sit in the snow during an impulse of polio vaccination in the Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu Kashmir on February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP
The challenge this year is greater, since Pakistan, with a population of 240 million, registered at least 73 cases of polio in 2024, an alarming increase of only six cases the previous year.
In arise, located 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Muzaffrabad, health workers are aimed at vaccinating around 1,700 children in the week.
Our goal is to vaccinate 750,000 children under five years throughout the country with 4,000 teams visiting houses, ”said Ahmad. “There have been no cases of polio in Kashmiro during the last 24 years,” he proudly added.
A health worker marks a child’s finger after administering poliomyelitis drops during a vaccination impulse in the Azad Jammu Kashmir Neelum valley on February 4, 2025. Photo: AFP
The polio can be easily prevented with an oral vaccine, but the erroneous information of some Islamic leaders, falsely stating that the vaccine contains pork or alcohol, has hindered progress. Despite these challenges, health workers continue their vital mission to protect children from paralyzing disease.
