And two frontline women health workers in Odisha put their lives at risk by crossing a swollen reservoir in a small country boat to make sure that every child in a remote village received life-saving polio drops. Their dedication has been praised on social media and the likes of many people have hailed them as heroes of India's public health system.
The incident took place in Nuadhepaguda village, which is located under Manchagaon Panchayat in Tentulikhunti Block of Nabarangpur district. The village is located on Indravati Reservoir and is cut off from the road. Residents and government officials now need to make boat trips to and from the village with no bridge or motorable road connecting it to and from the village. In the monsoon season it is much more dangerous as water levels and strong currents make crossing the reservoir a dangerous affair.
Despite these difficulties, ASHA worker Draupadi Jani and Anganwadi worker Til Santa have not let geography prevent children from receiving necessary healthcare. As part of the government’s nationwide Pulse Polio Immunisation Campaign, five children in the isolated village were to receive oral polio vaccine doses.
Knowing that the delay in vaccination could leave the children vulnerable to the highly infectious disease, the two women took a country boat and traveled through the rain-swollen reservoir. Local reports, though, said the two women even rowed the boat for safety as they were in a challenging situation and finally arrived at the village.
After arriving at Nuadhepaguda, health workers administered polio drops to all five eligible children, so that not one child missed the crucial immunisation drive. They were able to travel back across the reservoir safely after the vaccination.
The video documenting their brave journey has since gone viral on social media and received praise from people in India. Many users praised the two women and the team for their service and said they were the epitome of selfless public service and that frontline healthcare workers in India's far-flung communities are doing so very well.
Additional District Public Health Officer of Nabarangpur, Malay Kumar Tripathy, also praised the two women. “Their dedication reflects the Health Department’s commitment to making sure every child is able to get vaccines everywhere, no matter where they are located or how difficult it is,” he said.
India's Pulse Polio Programme is one of the world's largest public health efforts and has been a major factor in the elimination of wild poliovirus transmission. Although India was declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, it is up to routine vaccination campaigns to keep children safe and prevent the disease from spreading again. Health workers frequently work in remote forests, tribal settlements, river islands to get every child vaccinated.
Draupadi Jani and Til Santa’s inspirational work is further proof that India’s frontline health workforce is working hard. When five children in an isolated village were helped by the brave women, who bravely fought for a few drops of vaccine in the most dangerous circumstances and did this for them and did not just stay away or do not tell the story, it’s a great lesson that public health is not just one to be seen and heard and you can see that people in the field are doing things.
