Photo Essay: On the vaccine frontline in Nigeria

Much of the world has moved past polio, but the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 strain is still circulating in northern Nigeria

Words and photos: Sara Hylton

The grey clouds gathering overhead cast a shadow over the dry, hot day in Dange Shuni, a small village in northwest Nigeria’s Sokoto State.

Ummu Nasiru, a 24-year-old Nigerian woman, tosses a small blue lunchbox over her shoulder and leads her three colleagues toward a household. The four young women share an unusual – even defiant – role in their community. Going door to door, they vaccinate children younger than five against polio, a deadly but preventable disease. The blue box holds the life-saving vaccine, which must remain chilled.

Much of the world has moved past polio, but the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) strain is still circulating in northern Nigeria. Last year, 46% of global cVDPV2 cases were reported in Nigeria, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). Vaccine hesitancy obstructs vaccination efforts and now the WHO has lost its largest donor, the United States. Despite these obstacles, women like Nasiru remain at the vaccination forefront, working for 8,000 naira (about $5) a month.

Women are indispensable to the fight because, although patriarchal norms limit their mobility in northern Nigeria, these same norms allow them to enter homes that men cannot.

Drop by drop: Ummu Nasiru, 24, administers two drops of the oral polio vaccine to a child in Dange Shuni, a village in northwest Nigeria, Sokoto State.

The Lord’s work: Alhaji Sani Umar Jabbi (centre), the monarch and traditional religious leader of the Gagi community in Sokoto State. Jabbi, like the Sultan of Sokoto, has used his influence to encourage vaccination.

Vaccination veteran: Local clinic worker Balkisu Yusuf, 52 (centre), has 20 years of experience vaccinating against polio, tuberculosis, and hepatitis, among other illnesses.

Big dreams: Aishatu Musa Abdullahi, who was paralysed from polio at about age two, with her sister, Asma’u Musa Abdullahi, in north Sokoto. Aishatu wants to become a leader in her community. ‘I also want to get married soon and have my own children,’ she says.

Beast of burden: A man with his camel in Dange Shuni.

Sisters of mercy: Dange Shuni vaccinators and their supervisors go door to door to reach children younger than five who have not been vaccinated against polio.