Samreen's Mission to Reduce Polio Vaccine Refusals in A Neighbourhood of Contrasts
Every day, 25-year-old Samreen leads a team of four community health workers through the streets of Pehlwan Goth. She works to make sure every child is protected against polio. Pehlwan Goth is one of Karachi’s many lower-income neighbourhoods. People from across Pakistan live in the city with many families originally from the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is a high risk area for polio. Environmental samples here often test positive.
Three-to four-storey buildings stand alongside lower-income housing. Open sewage drains run through the settlement. Residents also dispose of household waste. Cattle often graze near the heaps of garbage lining the streets.
“I started working with the polio programme four years ago, and I am happy to say we have made a lot of progress here. This is my neighbourhood; this is where I grew up, and it helps me immensely. People here listen to me, especially the women, and I know most of the children by name,” says Samreen as she goes about her daily routine.
Converting Refusals
Just a few years ago, Pehlwan Goth was plagued by violence. It was extremely difficult for polio workers to vaccinate children. Fortunately, in recent years, the security situation has significantly improved. This has made it possible for the polio programme to deploy community health workers to vaccinate children. Around 32,000 children under 5 years of age live in Pehlwan Goth. In April 2019, parents of nearly 3,000 of these children refused the polio vaccine. Through the continued efforts of supervisors like Samreen, more than 80 per cent of those children were eventually vaccinated.
“I am in charge of an area that has 210 households with 196 children. In 2019, families of more than 50 children refused vaccines. That’s almost one fourth of all the children in my area,” said Samreen.
“Building trust takes time. We continued engaging with community members, visiting families, listening to their concerns, and explaining the benefits of vaccination. Today, we have only eight refusal cases out of 50. I will try my level best to bring them down to zero during the polio campaign next month. But it is not about just converting refusals during every campaign. I want all families to understand the benefits of vaccines in the long run and immunize their children against polio and other diseases.”
Her efforts were evident during a house visit. A family with three children had refused vaccines the previous month. This time, they offered no resistance to their children receiving the life-saving polio drops.
Confronting Misconceptions Together
The work is not easy. But Samreen is not alone. She is supported by a team comprising of a social mobilizer and a local religious leader. Together, they address misconceptions and raise awareness of child health-related practices among mothers, fathers, and caregivers.
“We speak the same language, and our homes are in the same area where we work. It is easier to communicate with people when you are part of the same community.” said Maulana Mohammad Hanif, the religious leader who is supporting Samreen.
However, one negative social media video or TV news can reignite refusals and overturn all their efforts. “The process takes time. The work is tough, but I am grateful to Allah for this job. It allows me to feed my family and contribute to a noble cause—saving the future generations of Pakistan.” added Maulana Mohammad Hanif.
I accompanied Samreen as she went from school to school and door to door, supporting her team to reach as many children as possible.
In Karachi, dedicated people like Samreen and her team are working hard to bring Pakistan closer to polio eradication. With Pakistan and Afghanistan as the final two polio-endemic countries, the country is now running the final mile. But often the final mile is the hardest and requires the most effort.
