Health workers vaccinate a child in Afghanistan during the national immunization days. Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, April 22th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ MeMo Polio is a highly infectious disease without cure caused by a virus that can cause permanent paralysis in a matter of hours. It has existed as long as human society but became a major public health issue in late Victorian times with major epidemics in Europe and the United States. According to an Egyptian stele, the disease has been around for at least 35 centuries. Polio mainly affects children under the age of five
Islamabad, Pakistan. Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group, al-Qaeda, was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011, by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. He was buried at sea within 24 hours of his death in accordance with Islamic tradition.
Portrait of Latif at the depressed fishermen area outskirt of Karachi. He got polio when he was 5 years old. Karachi, Pakistan, October 23th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Pakistan has come a long way on its struggle to eradicate poliomyelitis. The polio campaign faces many challenges, but perhaps the most pressing is the matter of continuing threats against polio vaccination teams issued by armed religious groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its allies
One scared child is seeing while he looks at the police while polio workers run a vaccination campaign at the volatile area of Union Council 5, "one of the polio virus reservoirs" in Karachi, April 12th, 2013, Pakistan. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo The Taliban have issued threats against the polio drive and a fatwa (religious decree) against polio vaccination in the past and they are behind the killing of anti-polio workers in the country. Polio cases in Pakistan have dropped by 70% in 2015 as troops make territorial advances in Waziristan against militants opposed to vaccination programs.
Saiful Islam is seeing while he is playing with his little baby at his home in Mardan. She got polio on 2012 and both of her legs are paralyzed. Saiful made the decision of refusing vaccinations for his daughter because of rumors vaccines could contain animal urine. Mardan, Pakistan, October 25th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo In 2015, Pakistani authorities have conducted their first-ever mass arrest of parents for refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated against polio. They detained 471 people and charged them with "endangering public security".
Vaccination center at the district headquarters hospital, blown up by unknown miscreants in Swabi on January 24th, 2014. Swabi, Pakistan. February 1st, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo According to the Police the Centre was the target of miscreants, as they wanted to disrupt the ongoing anti-polio vaccination campaign in Swabi.
Rukhsana Bibi holds a photograph of her daughter Madiha inside her house in Karachi. In December, Madiha Bibi, an 18-year-old mother of two, was gunned down in Karachi. Rukhsana escaped death by running around a corner; Ms. Shirazee had just gone home for breakfast. Karachi, Pakistan. May 20th, 2013. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo. Health workers—many of them women—continue to face bullets and bombs as they inoculate children.
Abbas Ibrahim, 48 years old, posses at the Health center attacked by Boko Haram on 2013. He survived and he was witness of this brutal incident. Nine polio immunization workers were shot on February 8 in 2013. Kabo, Northern Nigeria, March 11th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Some Nigerian Muslim leaders have previously opposed polio vaccinations, claiming they could cause infertility
A group of Nigerians are seeing while they are looking for Boko Haram at the streets of Maiduguri, Nigeria, March 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ MeMoCitizens have decided to build up self-defense groups to try to identify and capture Boko Haram militants with the support of the army. Maiduguri, Nigeria. March 5th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ MeMo Nigeria marked its first full year with no new polio cases on Friday, thanks to an inoculation campaign that carried on despite continuing violence in the north and other major challenges for public health workers
A view shows a destroyed and abandoned room of a health center attacked on February 8th by Boko Haram in 2013 in Kano. Nine polio immunization workers were shot in this attack. Kano, Nigeria, March 11th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Northern Nigeria became a polio hot spot in 2003 when waves of rumors began spreading about the vaccine: that it sterilized Muslim girls, that it contained pork products and that it contained the virus that causes AIDS. The governor of Kano, a northwestern state, stopped vaccinations for a year, and a local polio strain spread, first to 10 other African countries and then, through pilgrims, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and to Yemen and Indonesia,
Zain Ul Hadi holds the picture of his wife Naila Naz at his home in Swabi. She was 28 years old. She was killed with 4 female teachers, a lady health worker and a male medical technician in Sher Afzal Banda of Chhuta Lahore, near the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on January First 2013. They were involved in the Polio vaccination program. Swabi, Pakistan February 1, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Some militants oppose the vaccination campaigns, accusing health workers of acting as spies for the U.S. and alleging the vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile.
Portrait of Saiful Islam while he is holding his 8-month-daughter, Sulaim, at his home in Mardan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). He made the decision of refusing vaccinations for his daughter because of rumors vaccines could contain animal urine. Both of her legs were paralyzed in 2012. Mardan, Pakistan, October 25th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo In 2015, Pakistani authorities have conducted their first-ever mass arrest of parents for refusing to allow their children to be vaccinated against polio. They detained 471 people and charged them with "endangering public security".
Afghan women are seeing while they are getting pushed in a hand truck on their way to Pakistan at the Torhkam border. Afghanistan, May 6th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Viruses cross borders invisibly and dangerously. Most of Afghanistan’s new cases come from Pakistan. About 1.3 million oral vaccinations are administered every year to children at the Torkham Gate crossing, the focal point of an intense global campaign to eradicate polio by 2018.
Sakhina, a 3-year-old girl is seeing while she is looking at the window of her house located outskirts Kabul, Afghanistan. Her family previously lived in Pakistan and her father is a taxi driver who travels frequently to the Pakistani tribal areas. Sakhina is the first confirmed case in the capital in 12 years. Kabul, Afghanistan, April 16th 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Most of Afghanistan’s new cases come from Pakistan, but there are also areas of Afghanistan where the virus remains endemic, mainly in the south, in parts of Uruzgan, Kandahar and Helmand Provinces where heavy conflict has made vaccination campaign difficult.
Portrait of Murtala Abubakar, a polio survivor inside a room of a wheelchair workshop in Kano. He lives at the backside of the wheelchair workshop in Kano, Nigeria, March 11th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo No polio cases have been detected in Nigeria, neither Africa, for one year. Even assuming there are no more cases, Africa will not be officially declared polio-free for two more years. The W.H.O. requires three case-free years because surveillance is difficult in a continent of isolated villages and nomadic herders
Vaccine carrier box for carrying and storing sensitive vaccines of polio are seeing at the floor of a Health care center in Kano, Nigeria, March 2nd, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo The battle of polio” has seen a 99 per cent reduction since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988
A health worker is seeing while he is walking through a field during the National Immunization Campaign in Jalababad. Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, May 6th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Mop-up campaigns are door-to-door immunizations that are carried out in specific focal areas where the virus is known or suspected to still be circulating
Amino Idris, a Nigerian Para soccer player is seeing at his residence in Kano. No polio cases have been detected in Africa for one year. Kano, Northern Nigeria, March 13th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/MeMo The battle of polio” has seen a 99 per cent reduction since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988, when one of the world's most feared diseases was endemic in 125 countries and was paralyzing nearly 1,000 children every day
A Syrian refugee kid receives polio vaccine drops during a polio vaccination campaign inside a makeshift settlement in Zahle. Beqaa Valley, Lebanon March 27th, 2015. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo There is a real concern that the reappearance of the virus in the Middle East and the high levels of population displacement might lead to the spread of the outbreak beyond Syria and Iraq. Lebanon hosts the largest number of families displaced by the Syrian crisis over half of which are children, many living in informal tented settlements with little or no access to basic services
A Syrian refugee kid is seeing while he receives polio vaccine during a polio vaccination campaign inside a makeshift settlement in Zahle, Lebanon, March 27th, 2015. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo. Lebanon has been polio-free for the past 12 years, but with concerns of a polio outbreak in Syria, a national vaccination campaign has been driven to target hundreds of thousands of children under 5 in Lebanon.
Sons of Amina and Younes are seeing while they are running through a crop field in Zahle, Lebanon. They left Syria two years ago after her house was destroyed. July 7th, 2015. Lebanon. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo In order to stop the outbreak beyond Syria and Iraq and prevent further spread, Health organizations aim to vaccinate, repeatedly all children under the age of five. As the Syria's brutal conflict continues to spill over its borders, aid workers know they have to act fast, since viruses can often spread quicker than violence
A child gets the polio vaccine during the National Immunization Days in Kano, March 2nd, 2014, Nigeria. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo A new horizon is looming in the African country. Nigeria has given a firm step to be considered a free polio country, at the expense of the three years marked by the international community to make of these encouraging data a reality.
Afghan Health workers vaccinators are seeing while they are vaccinating a child during the national immunization days in Jalababad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. May 5th 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Afghanistan is one of the countries where polio is still endemic. If Afghanistan cannot reach the goal of eradicating polio, millions of children will be at risk of getting this crippling disease
A child getts a polio vaccine at the volatile neighborhood of UC5, outskirts of Karachi. Pakistan. April 12th, 2013. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can provoke permanent paralysis in a matter of hours. As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio
A puppets show is seen during a vaccination polio campaign in a makeshift settlement in Zahle, Lebanon. March 27th, 2015. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ MeMo Lebanon has been polio-free for the past 12 years, but with concerns of a polio outbreak in Syria, it has launched vaccination campaigns. Coinciding with the launch the vaccination campaign UNICEF run a large communication and social mobilization drive emphasizing the importance of vaccinating all children under five. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets, posters, a radio spot and a cartoon TV spot will aid social mobilization teams in raising awareness of the critical importance of vaccinating children against polio.
Children picking up garbage at the Baluch area in Karachi, Pakistan. October 23th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo The inadequate sanitation and a polluted environment could keep the threat of the virus in Pakistan. Polio can be spread when food or drink is contaminated by feces.
A polluted water supply in inadequate sanitation conditions is seeing while a young Pakistan is looking at it. Karachi, Pakistan, October 23th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Considered a vicious environment maker for these urban areas, making it easier to spread this crippling disease. Environmental surveillance involves testing sewage or other environmental samples for the presence of poliovirus.
Syrian refugees are seeing while they are on board a boat on the Iraqi bank of the river Tigris at the Iraqi-Syrian border near Dohuk. Kurdistan, August 11th 2015. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ MeMo Despite ongoing conflict, mass population displacement and a complex and unpredictable security situation, only 2 cases of polio were confirmed in Iraq during the regional outbreak in early 2014. The difficult to eradicate polio is higher when borders are insecure, poorest, closed and the access to vaccinate is complicate.
Health workers vaccinators are seeing during the national immunization days in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, May 6th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Nangarhar is connected to Pakistan through Torkham border. Pakistan’s tribal areas that has allowed the virus to flourish and hitch a ride west, has demonstrated that as long as polio has a foothold in one country, no other country is safe. Viruses cross borders invisibly and dangerously. An Afghan girl was diagnosed with polio in Kabul on February 2014, the capital's first case since the Taliban's fall in 2001
Syrian refugees walk inside the Masnaa´s border in Masnaa, Lebanon, April 18th, 2015. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Lebanon has been polio-free for the past 12 years, but with concerns of a polio outbreak in Syria, a two-round vaccination campaign is targeting hundreds of thousands of children under 5 in Lebanon
A child getts a polio vaccine inside a bus at Toll Plaza, outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan. April 12th, 2013. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that can provoke permanent paralysis in a matter of hours. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines
A young afgan patient with poliomyelitis is provided with an orthesis and physiotherapy at ICRC in Kabul, Afghanistan. April 16th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo The ICRC has been permanently present in Afghanistan since 1987. The orthopaedic programme was one of its first activites when the Centre in Kabul opened a year later
A view shows a Police checkpoint in Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa, near Barra agency. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, October 25th, 2012. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Pakistani force is always on alert due to Taliban threats. The threats to the polio eradication campaign are not limited to violence, a shortage of staff, and adverse environmental and hygiene conditions and many parents refuse to give their children the vaccine "on religious grounds".
Pair of silhouettes is seeing at the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbotabad on May 2, 2011. Pakistan, May 4th, 2011. Diego Ibarra Sanchez/MeMo After the U.S. used a health program to track down the al Qaeda leader, volunteers fighting polio became the hunted
A volunteer member of the vaccination team walks through the market with megaphones while he is announcing the availability of vaccines. Kano, Northern Nigeria, March 1st, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/MeMo Vaccinator teams can vaccinate children right on the spot if the parent agrees.
A Nigerian female polio health worker marks the gates of the house to identify the ones remaining as several kids are not at home during the campaign. Kano, Northern Nigeria, March 1st, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez/MeMo As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.
Polio survivor plays para soccer. Kano, Nigeria. March 11th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez /MeMo Para soccer is a national sport and It is played across the country. It was founded in Lagos in 1988 at Marina rehabilitation Centre where polio survivors were crawling on the ground.
A polio worker team running a vaccination campaign at the volatile area of Union Council 5. Karachi, Pakistan. April 12th, 2013. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Pashtuns areas are the most affected by militants operation against the polio health workers. According to officials reports, Taliban are reported to be hiding in these communities in the city. Officials in Karachi often respond to the attacks by suspending the vaccination campaign in the city.
Annis Gul get polio at the beggining of March on 2014. His family used to travel quite often to Pakistan. Torkham, Afghanistan. April 21th, 2014. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo Most of Afghanistan’s new cases come from Pakistan, but there are also areas of Afghanistan where the virus remains endemic, mainly in the south, in parts of Uruzgan, Kandahar and Helmand Provinces where heavy conflict has made vaccination campaign difficult.
Attaullah and Rukhsana Bibi are seeing while they are mourning the lost of her daughter Madiha. Madiha was a polio worker killed by Taliban in 2013. Karachi, Pakistan. May 20th, 2013. Diego Ibarra Sánchez / MeMo In 2015, 41 cases of wild poliovirus have been reported worldwide - 32 in Pakistan and nine in Afghanistan. In 1952, Dr Jonas Salk began to develop the first effective vaccine against polio. Mass public vaccination programs followed and had an immediate effect