Sayed Gul, a 5-year-old boy, lives in the remote Kooh-e Zoor district of Farah province in western Afghanistan. Stricken by polio, Sayed suffers from severe paralysis.
Ghulam Rasool, Sayed’s father, regrets his decision to prevent polio vaccination teams from entering their village five years ago. Seeing his son’s suffering, Rasool has now launched a campaign, traveling from village to village to encourage residents to vaccinate their children.
“A while ago, when the vaccinators came to our village, I told them not to come. Now that I see the result of this opposition with my own eyes, I ask the authorities to raise more awareness about the harm of not vaccinating,” Rasool said.
Other residents revealed that Rasool and his family had strongly opposed vaccination, even expelling health workers from their area. “Five years ago, when the vaccination team came here, they rejected the vaccine entirely and refused to vaccinate their family. They did not understand the harms and benefits of vaccination,” said Abdul Rahim, a resident.
Rasool has since become an active member of the vaccination team in the Shuzha Sharqi area of Koh Zoor district. He travels from village to village, sharing his son’s story to encourage people to vaccinate their children.
“I cooperate with the vaccination team because I have seen with my own eyes the harm of not vaccinating. Our problems increase day by day, our family suffers, and the child also suffers. Now I am working with the vaccination team, urging friends, neighbors, and all the villagers to bring their children for vaccination,” Rasool said.
Health officials recognized Sayed Gul as a polio victim four years ago. Mohammad Asif Kabir, head of the vaccination team in the western zone, noted that there have been no polio cases in the western province since September 2020. “Since September 5, 2020, thankfully, there have been no cases of wild polio in the western region, including Herat, Farah, Ghor, and Badghis,” he said.
This year, at least nine polio cases have been recorded in Afghanistan, with most of them in the province of Kandahar.
