Polio social mobilizers step up to aid Afghanistan’s vulnerable communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the polio program has diverted thousands of personnel to fight the virus. Repurposing extensive experience eradicating polio, the program is supporting country response in areas including information dissemination, disease surveillance, risk communications and data management.
In Kandahar, a ‘poliovirus epicenter’ where the program has significant personnel, community social mobilizers stepped up operations last March to deliver soap bars and information on COVID-19 to some of Afghanistan’s poorest and most vulnerable communities. Social mobilizers are local people trained to communicate with the public about specific health issues in ways that are understandable and encourage behaviors to protect health. In Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) coordinates a network of 3,750 mobilizers.
Just a few days after the decision to mobilize polio teams for COVID-19 response, the Kandahar team distributed thousands of soap bars and educational materials on the virus to communities across the province. Many of the families served have limited access to adequate sanitation products or facilities. Providing a bar of soap and demonstrating its use is a simple COVID-19 prevention measure.
During the distribution, the teams emphasized the importance of routine immunization continuing throughout the pandemic, reminding parents to take their children to health facilities. With house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns paused for the time being, many more children may be vulnerable to polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases, if they don’t receive vaccinations at health clinics.
