Travelling by horseback to deliver lifesaving care in remote Kyrgyzstan

Jiydegul Rysbaeva Seitkazievna has been a medical nurse in Kyrgyzstan since 1988. In the rural, isolated valley where she lives, it isn't convenient – or even possible – to drive to the families she serves by car, or to take a train. Instead, she uses a different mode of transport.

“I administer vaccines on horseback,” she says.

In the Jon-Bulak valley, Rysbaeva oversees care for families across 41 farmsteads. The distance between farmsteads is between three and seven kilometers.

Getting to them can be a challenge. Along with her husband, who frequently accompanies her, she must cross rivers on horseback. In the spring, the water flow can be heavy and treacherous. In the winter, snow can reach 50-60 cm deep. If children, the elderly, or pregnant women fall ill, the pair have to shovel snow all day just to get them to medical help.

Because vaccines also degrade if they aren't stored properly or kept cold, she also has a time limit.

“I have to complete my rounds before the vaccines expire," she says. To buy time, she keeps two thermoses: one with ice to keep the vaccines cold, and another with the vaccines themselves.

The vaccinations that Rysbaeva supplies help strengthen children's immunity and prevent illness in the valley. For example, if a child who is not vaccinated with measles is exposed to someone who has the disease – or even passes through the room where that person was – they have a 90 per cent chance of contracting it. 

But a child who is vaccinated is at least 97 per cent protected. 

"As both a mother and a nurse, I make sure [my family's children] never miss a single vaccination, because I believe vaccinations protect my children's and grandchildren's lives,” she says. 

"Every child's future is in the hands of their parents."