When confronting diseases such as polio in Gaza and mpox outbreaks in some African countries, we must remember one of the biggest lessons ever learned in global health: women are essential to a solution.
Look at polio – a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which can result in disability, paralysis or death. In most countries, vaccinators are predominantly women, and yet women may face barriers in delivering vaccine services due to sexual harassment and violence, unsafe working conditions, poor or irregular pay and heavy workload.
