The lengths to which health workers go to reach every child with vaccines
Vaccines can prevent disease outbreaks now and in the future.
Vaccines are the most effective tool to prevent the outbreak of many dangerous diseases, including polio and measles. They are also one of the most cost-efficient public health interventions that exist and have helped to dramatically reduce child mortality rates over the last two decades.
And yet too many children, often those living in the poorest and most underserved communities, still lack access to the healthcare necessary to help them survive and thrive. The children who need life-saving vaccines the most, are the least likely to get them.
Reaching every child requires a chain of people – from donors to vaccinators – working in coordination, especially when the going gets tough. Across this chain, UNICEF is there: strengthening systems, building capacity and supporting innovation. Together we can ensure that no child dies from an illness we know how to prevent.
This photo series highlights the lengths to which health workers – always on the front lines – go to deliver vaccines to children in some of the hardest-to-reach places on the planet.
Afghanistan: Payenda Atayee has been working as a vaccinator in Badakhshan Province for four years, traversing the mountainous region to reach children with life-saving vaccines.
He says, “Some of these areas are very remote, and motorcycles cannot reach them, so we are forced to walk ...”
Bangladesh: Vaccinator Abdul Baten crosses a river with a vaccine carrier as he heads towards a village in Tahirpur, a remote upazila (sub-district) surrounded by challenging terrain.
Through technical and financial aid, UNICEF has enhanced the quality of vaccination services and enabled local health workers to identify and vaccinate underserved children.
Brazil: Community health agent Dene Maria Rodrigues André (standing, left) accompanies a family to the local health centre for the children to be vaccinated.
This municipality in northern Brazil is formed by 72 islands, requiring healthcare workers to reach communities by boat. UNICEF is supporting healthcare workers with training and technology to ensure they can reach every child.
Ecuador: Nurse Bridgith Freire places a vaccine carrier in the boat she will take to reach children in the community of Santa Bárbara as part of a vaccine campaign.
Support from the Government of Japan is helping UNICEF to strengthen the cold chain and protect children in some of the world’s most hard-to-reach places.
El Salvador: Glenda Mejía, a dedicated health promoter, carries her vaccine cooler through a corn field to reach distant homes and their families.
Together with the Government of Canada, UNICEF is working to improve the quality of community immunization services by providing equipment and training to frontline vaccination teams, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of El Salvador.
Ethiopia: Umalkayr Yasin raises awareness with families to get ready for the upcoming house-to-house polio vaccination campaign. The national immunization campaign aims to protect close to 14 million children from polio.
Ghana: Carrying vaccine coolers, a group of health workers cross a flooded area in Northern Ghana.
UNICEF works with the Ministry of Health and provides technical and financial support to strengthen immunization coverage and health services across the country.
India: Health workers reach remote regions on a 'boat clinic' equipped with solar refrigeration units supplied by UNICEF. This approach has revolutionized healthcare delivery for isolated island villages, ensuring equitable healthcare access for the families that live there.
Kyrgyzstan: Nurse Jiydegul Rysbaeva travels on horseback across the Jon-Bulak Valley. For more than 36 years, she has made this journey, delivering lifesaving vaccines and care to children and families in farmsteads across the region.
Madagascar: Laha Elersene Razafimahavory on a pirogue, a traditional dugout canoe, makes a 14-kilometer journey to the health centre to retrieve vaccines to bring back to his remote community.
As the village crier, Laha spreads awareness about the importance of polio vaccination, trying to ensure that every child has access to life-saving protection.
State of Palestine: Children receive polio vaccines in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip as part of a vaccination campaign.
While campaigns in 2024 achieved over 95% coverage despite conflict-related obstacles, some children in severely affected areas remained unreachable.
Sudan: Mahmoud, a vaccinator and health worker in a remote area in Red Sea state rides on a camel to reach children in need of the polio shot during a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
The trip starts with a long car ride that is followed by the use of camels and donkeys due to impassable roads.
“These are our people and children, so we make every effort to include them in the health campaigns and routine immunizations,” he says.
Tanzania: Prisca Mkungwa, a clinical officer from Southwest Tanzania is on her way to a village that became the epicenter of a measles outbreak. She navigates through dense forests and harsh terrain — sometimes even crossing flooded rivers.
Her medical bag, containing various vaccines, vitamin A supplements, deworming tablets, educational materials and much more, is crucial for the well-being of the children and families she serves.
Getting vaccines to children who need them
New and reemerging diseases are threatening the lives of children around the world. And, the most vulnerable children, those living in conflict or in the world’s poorest places, are suffering the most.
UNICEF is committed to providing essential health services, including vaccinations, for children in the most affected countries, preventing and containing further disease outbreaks.
Join us! Stay for children, stay with UNICEF.
