Vaccines

On the Frontlines: Supporting Health Workers that Deliver Lifesaving Vaccines

Friday, February 12, 2016
One of the greatest successes in global health in the past 25 years has been the slashing of childhood mortality rates around the world driven by increased access to vaccines delivered by frontline health workers. Cheap, safe, and effective vaccines like the polio vaccine have saved millions of lives and brought us to the brink of eradicating a deadly disease.

Statement Delivered at World Health Assembly in Response to WHO's Global Vaccine Action Plan

Wednesday, May 20, 2015
At the 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva this week,IntraHealth International delivered a statement on behalf IntraHealth as well as 34 other organizations who are affiliated with the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. The statement was made in response to WHO's Global Vaccine Action Plan.

Eradicating Polio Requires Protecting Vaccinators

Monday, April 20, 2015
An increasingly alarming roadblock to eradicating polio is the rise in attacks on health care workers employed as vaccinators. In 2013-2014, 89 polio workers and their police escorts were killed in Pakistan and Nigeria. What’s most striking about this figure is that it exceeds the estimated number of actual deaths from polio; the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) estimated that between 15 and 30 people died from the disease in 2014.

Abducted Polio Immunization Team Found Murdered in Pakistan

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Four members of a polio immunization team have been found murdered after being kidnapped in southwest Pakistan, officials said Wednesday. Local militants had abducted the vaccination worker, two local tribal policemen and a driver in the Zhob district of Baluchistan province on Saturday. Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic. But attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by opposition from militants and attacks on immunization teams that have now claimed 71 lives since December 2012.

Canada Deeply Concerned by Shooting and Kidnapping of Polio Workers in Pakistan

Monday, February 16, 2015
The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, issued the following statement: “Humanitarian, development and security personnel should not have to fear for their lives as they provide critical assistance to the Pakistani people. There is no possible justification for such violence against health workers and those who protect them.”

Into the Abyss: The Escalating Violence Against Pakistan's Polio Workers

Wednesday, November 5, 2014
So far in 2014, there have been 20 attacks on polio workers in Pakistan that have killed 32 people, according to data I collected using news reports; and the attacks are only escalating in lethality and violence. In 2013, there were 29 attacks against polio workers, killing 22 people; and in 2012, there were only nine attacks that resulted in the deaths of 10 people.

Nigeria Hopes to Eradicate Polio Despite Insurgency

Tuesday, July 15, 2014
A Nigerian military offensive against Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram has opened up a corridor for mobile units of health workers to vaccinate children against polio in parts of the northeast. Boko Haram, which is fighting to set up an Islamic state in religiously-mixed Nigeria, has killed health workers doing polio vaccinations during its five-year-old insurgency, although Funsho said that had not happened since January last year.

The Last Drops

Thursday, May 29, 2014
Teams of women ‘vaccinators’ in Pakistan struggle to achieve full coverage in a country wracked by ideological violence. Their commitment is unfailing even as they face attacks from the Taliban, as well as fearful communities that don't trust the source of the vaccines. Determined and patient, these women go from door to door to try and get all the children protected.

In Pakistan's Polio Epicenter, Workers Struggle against Threats and Suspicion

Friday, May 9, 2014
Health workers in Peshawar face militant attacks and resistance from some locals. Pakistan is one of three nations where the virus is spreading beyond its borders. On the second floor of a local dispensary in Peshawar, Dr. Sheda Hussain stands in front of a 50-person immunization team of female health workers and technicians. Flicking through three Power Point presentations, he guides them through the process they must follow during their visits to homes around the city.

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