| Autor: |
Kalbarczyk A; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA., Closser S; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA., Hirpa S; Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia., Cintyamena U; Center for Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia., Azizatunnisa L; Department of Health Behavior, Environment, and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia., Agrawal P; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA., Rahimi AO; Global Innovations Consultancy, Kabul, Afghanistan., Akinyemi OO; Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Ibadan College of Medicine, Ibadan Nigeria., Mafuta EM; Kinshasa School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, DRC., Deressa W; Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia., Alonge OO; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
Frontline workers (FLWs) in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative go door-to-door delivering polio vaccine to children. They have played a pivotal role in eliminating wild polio from most countries on earth; at the same time, they face significant bodily risk. STRIPE, an international consortium, conducted a mixed-methods study exploring the knowledge and experiences of polio staff in seven countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Nigeria). We surveyed 826 polio FLWs and conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 of them. We used a body work framework to guide analysis. Polio workers perform a different kind of body work than many other FLWs. Delivering a few drops of oral vaccine takes a light touch, but gendered spaces can make the work physically dangerous. Polio's FLWs must bend or break gendered space norms as they move from house-to-house. Navigating male spaces carries risk for women, including lethal risk, particularly in conflict settings. Workers manoeuvre between skeptical community members and the demands of supervisors which generates emotional labour. Providing FLWs with more power to make operational decisions and providing them with robust teams and remuneration would improve the likelihood that they could act to improve their working conditions. |
