How Mamlikat works through the mountains of Shangla to vaccinate children
Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:
Mamlikat has been working as a Lady Health Worker since 2001.
She lives in Shangla, a mountainous area where reaching families can be difficult. The steep roads and long climbs make the work challenging.
But Mamlikat keeps going.
She is the only Lady Health Worker in her area who agreed to take on extra work with the polio programme. Since then, she says she has not missed a single child during a polio campaign. Knowing Every Child During each campaign, Mamlikat visits 40 to 50 houses. She vaccinates around 100 to 130 children.
After years of visiting the same families, she knows many of the children by name.
“I can tell you the name of any child up to the age of 10, as over the years, I have been vaccinating them all myself.”
For Mamlikat, the children have become more than names on a list.
“They are like my own children and I cannot see anyone of them be paralyzed owing to polio virus.”
Climbing Every Mountain
Shangla is not an easy place to work.
It can take about two hours just to reach the highest point of the mountain. Reaching the last house can take even longer.
Still, Mamlikat and other health workers continue climbing and visiting families during every campaign.
Her work is part of a wider network of community-based vaccinators. These local health workers help reach children in areas where vaccination teams may otherwise struggle to reach families.
A Commitment to Children
For Mamlikat, the goal is simple: reach every child and protect them from polio.
She continues to work through difficult roads and tough conditions because she knows that every visit makes a difference.
For her, every child she vaccinates is another child protected from a disease that can cause lifelong harm.
And every mountain she climbs brings her closer to the next child.
