A father’s promise of protection
See how these dads keep their kids safe from life-threatening diseases.
Vaccines save lives – about 4.4 million each year. But vaccines do more than just save lives, they give children the opportunity to grow up healthy and reach their full potential – an opportunity that these fathers are making sure to secure for their children.
Maksym, pictured above, holds his seven-month-old son Oleksandr at a clinic in Kyiv, Ukraine, in April 2023. After being examined by a paediatrician, Oleksandr receives a DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) and polio vaccine.
“I am very positive about vaccination,” says Maksym. “I am sure that war is no reason to neglect children's health.”
Above: Saeed and two of his sons, Teeba and Asal Saeed, are visited by a mobile health team at their home in the Ashti displacement camp, Iraq, in June 2022. Saeed and his family are among more than a million people in Iraq who have been forced to flee their homes and are now internally displaced.
“I want all my children to be healthy. I want to make sure they are vaccinated and strong. They are all I have in my life."
Saeed
Above: Two-month-old Kailane is held by her father, Wilson Abreu, while a nurse administers a pentavalent vaccine at a health centre in Luanda, Angola, in March 2023.
Wilson is a father of 2-month-old twins Kailane and Kaio. He brought them to the clinic for their regular checkups and routine immunizations. Wilson feels the pain of the injections for his babies, but says he feels happy and relieved that his daughters' immune systems are now boosted.
Above: Six-year-old Muso Ahliddinzoda smiles as he looks at his arm, while his father Ahliddin Gaibulloev applies pressure where the vaccine was injected, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, March 2022.
“I want to take preventative measures. I do not want my children to catch any type of virus or to have any diseases.”
Ahliddin Gaibulloev
Above: Talosaga Leuta and his baby Topelei were visited by a team of health workers in Falela Niu village, Samoa. Not only did Topelei get vaccinated, but he got his Child Health Book updated.
“When my child was born, we were given the Child Health Book with details about our baby and the different vaccines my child needs to get,” says Talosaga. The book has helped him make sure that Topelei gets all his vaccines on time.
Above: Ariba Shehzadi, 1, is brought by her father Niaz to receive the measles-rubella vaccine at the Qureshi Nagar Health camp, Mumbai, India, October 2022.
Above: Godfrey Phiri holds his daughter Trisha as she receives an oral polio vaccine outside their home in Nkaleya village near Zomba, Malawi, April 2022.
Above: Four-month-old Emma is vaccinated while being comforted by her father at a health clinic in Trinidad, Bolivia, December 2022.
