Vaccines

For the first time in decades, we’re witnessing a large sustained backslide in the number of children receiving routine immunizations. In many ways, that’s attributable to pandemic disruptions, but there are other factors at play, including conflict, displacement and increasing vaccine misinformation.  The consequences of this global backslide are…, Tajikistan is one of the countries UNICEF is focusing on, The mountainous nation borders China to its east and Afghanistan to the south. Tajikistan went a decade without a case of polio emerging but that changed at the beginning of 2021, when the first case of paralysis from polio was detected. In the months following, 34 children were paralyzed.   UNICEF, as a partner of the Global Polio Eradication…, A second set of twins are protected, Fotima and Zuhro aren’t the only twins to have been vaccinated against polio. There’s also 6-year-old Magfirat and her sister Maifat. Wearing matching dresses, and with a shared passion for creative endeavors, it’s in some ways hard to tell them apart.   Magfirat and Marifat are photographed with their grandmother, Shamsiya Muzafarova. Magfirat…, Community health centers and health workers have led the vaccine drive, Community health centers in Tajikistan have played an important role in increasing the rate of immunization in the country among children.   That includes the Dushanbe Health Center, situated close to the bank of the Varzob river, which runs directly through the nation’s capital, Dushanbe.   6-year-old Muso Ahliddinzoda gets vaccinated with his…, How the COVID-19 pandemic presented an additional challenge , Because of COVID-19, health workers at the Dushanbe Health Center had to rethink how exactly they provided healthcare while keeping everyone safe.   “During the pandemic we divided the clinic into two parts,” says health worker Sayohat Mamadjonova. “A red zone for those who came for immunization and had a fever or COVID-19 symptoms. The other part…, The results of Tajikistan's vaccination campaign are clear, Thanks to the hard work of these health workers, the willingness of so many caregivers to get their children vaccinated, and the efforts of UNICEF alongside its partners, in addition to the Tajikistan government, the future now looks brighter. As of April 2022, the World Health Organization declared that polio is no longer circulating in the…