Anyone who witnesses a polio vaccination campaign in Pakistan will notice something remarkable: in most areas, the majority of health workers moving house to house to vaccinate children against this highly infectious paralytic disease are women.
But despite their outsize role in providing life-saving vaccinations and other essential services to children in every corner of the country, these frontline workers are rarely consulted on matters of health policy. This year, as Pakistan strives to eradicate wild polio once and for all, input and feedback from the women leading these efforts on the ground must be incorporated into the programme's design. There is no hope of success otherwise.
A polio-free Pakistan is within our grasp, and the women on the frontlines will help to carry us over the finish line. Recognising this reality, the country's polio eradication programme launched an unprecedented initiative to listen to underrepresented female health workers and engage them as co-partners in designing solutions to end polio.
