WATCH: Polio team trudges through snow to immunise children

Amid freezing temperatures, polio workers go door-to-door administering polio drops to the children

CHITRAL: A video of a polio team, trudging through deep snow to immunise children in the country's northern areas has gone viral, highlighting the dedication and sheer will of the polio workers to combat the disease.

Polio teams work through out the year to protect your child against polio and it is to their tireless efforts and unmatched dedication to which we owe our progress. Thank you to our heroes - our polio workers. #endpolio pic.twitter.com/0dYZtUz9dr

— Pak Fights Polio (@PakFightsPolio) January 26, 2019

The polio eradication campaign in Pakistan has faced many challenges, from the refusal of parents to administer the drops to attacks on polio teams by militants.



A countrywide polio immunisation campaign commenced last week during which about 39 million children under the age of five were administered anti-polio drops.

The campaign reached Chitral on January 27. Despite freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall, polio workers in varying areas of Lower and North Chitral went out and administered polio drops to children.

In 10 union councils, however, the campaign will start once the extreme weather conditions improve. The anti-polio campaign will continue in Chitral till January 30.



Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious debilitating virus that targets the nervous system of children, causing partial or complete paralysis of their limbs.

Since 1988, reported polio cases worldwide have declined by more than 99 per cent, but the virus remains endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.