Original Story Published by: Staff Writer for Relief Web
Photo Source: ©World Health Organization
(Above) Women leading house to house interventions.
Abuja, 13 March 2019 - “In Northern Nigeria where I work as a nurse and polio vaccinator, only women are allowed to enter houses because most women in this part of the country are in purdah (practice of seclusion)”,says Ramatu Garba of Dala Local Government in Kano State. Not only that, many times, mothers require the permission of their spouses to take ailing children to hospitals.
Recognizing these limitations early in the Polio Eradication Programme, the Government of Nigeria with support from the World Health Organization and partners including UNICEF and CORE Group resorted to engaging mostly females to overcome the challenges of reaching eligible children in the household.
Over 360,000 vaccinators are engaged to support each round of national polio campaigns and a further 180,000 for a round of sub-national campaigns.
Out of these, more than 80% of the house to house vaccinators are females. In addition to this, the polio programme deployed more 90% female supervisors to monitor the vaccination teams. A further profiling of personnel for all vaccination teams (including fixed post and transit point teams) indicate that 62% of the vaccinators are females.
According to Ramatu Garba, “when you are a female health worker, it is easier to gain access and provide quality support to areas with gender restrictions, not only during polio but other public health campaigns.”
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