Women supporting polio eradication in Pakistan

Twenty years ago, Thongbotho Mphoyakgosi, wanted to be a social worker. “But fate had me here,” she laughs, as she gestures to her surroundings at the National Health Laboratory, in Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone.

60-year-old Raquelina Mazuze is proud of her contribution to the fight against polio as a social mobilizer in her native Mozambique.

In the polio eradication programme, women are forces to be reckoned with. They play important and integral roles at all levels of the programme. We got the perspectives of four women from WHO EMRO who tap into digital innovations to shape decision-making

At the workshops, women health workers were the chief guests while everyone else had one job: to listen.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) stands tall on the foundation of millions of women’s efforts and voices.

Pakistan is one of just two countries where the polio virus remains endemic. Challenges remain in identifying and vaccinating all children, but data management software is providing a way forward.